A TREATISE 



ON 



HUMAN NATURE 



AND 



PHYSIOGNOMY. 



By PROF. A. E. WILLIS, 

Lecturer, and Practical Physiognomist and Phrenologist. 



ILLUSTRATED, REVISED AND ENLARGED, 1882. 






■ 



CHICAGO: 

Cameron, Amberg & Co., Printers, 
71 and 73 Lake Street. 



^ 



s * a* 



^V 



1876 

copyright, mm* By A. E. WILLIS. 
COPYRIGHT, *6§^ By A. E. WILLIS. 
1882 






(V 



PREFACE. 



There is no subject of greater importance to man than the study of 
himself, first; and, secondly, of his fellow-men. There are no sciences 
better adapted to aid in this study than phrenology and physiognomy. 
The examination of these sciences not only reveals the laws of the mind, 
but proves to be one of the best means of educating and developing those 
faculties which are especially necessary to the efficient performance of 
the active and practical duties of life. Unfortunately, only a few of our 
people have cared to gather information from the rich fields of knowledge 
into which these sciences would lead them; while some are so strongly 
prejudiced that they prefer to go through the world ignorant of this whole 
subject, rather than to open their eyes and let the light of new truth 
dawn upon them. There are others who are careless and indifferent, 
seldom acquiring any scientific knowledge, unless it is forced upon them; 
and still another class, who fear phrenology because of its power to 
disclose their secret faults — if it would only flatter them, they would 
gladly embrace it. A hungry man, in his right mind, will not refuse good, 
wholesome food; nor will a wise man reject practical, useful knowledge, 
no matter whether it is palatable or otherwise. Truth is no respecter of 
persons; neither does it array itself in unseemly garments, nor in any 
way injure the individual who seeks and finds it, and is governed by it. 
The honest, progressive man is always in love with it, and his reward is 
as great and lasting as Truth itself. 

Notwithstanding the opposition that was at first exhibited to these 
sciences (as to all new inventions and doctrines), they are rapidly gaining 
in popular esteem, and are now recognized and studied by many of the 
most intelligent and influential minds of the age. 

The author's aim in this work has not been to treat these two sciences 
in a learned, technical or theoretical manner, but rather to take up their 
practical side and bearing, and make them more popular and compre- 



6 PREFACE. 

hensible to the masses, by presenting human character as seen and mani- 
fested in every-day life. Hence, I have selected a variety of subjects, and 
written on them from a physiognomical and phrenological point of view. 

The author of this book makes no pretensions to rhetorical finish; 
that kind of writing is hardly adapted to such a work. My purpose 
has been to express my thoughts in plain, simple language, so that every 
person, who has learned to read and write, will be able to comprehend 
my statements. I believe the too liberal use of foreign and high-sounding 
phrases (those hard to pronounce and not in common use) in scientific 
works is one of the chief reasons why such works are not more generally 
read and liked by the public. 

I have endeavored to describe human nature just as it exists in all 
classes of society, and in its public and private manifestations, without 
any flattery on the one hand, or exaggeration and magnifying of imper- 
fections on the other. Like an honest and true man, my earnest desire 
has been, to present in this book "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
but the truth." 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PHYSIOGNOMV DEFINED, 17-21 

Two Kinds: Active and Passive — Form and Expression — Use of Physiognomy — Intuitive 
Perception — Mental Process of Physiognomy — Animal Physiognomy — Can Physi- 
ognomy be Relied upon? — Types of Character — Principles of Human Nature. 



HOW TO READ CHARACTER, 22-27 

Two Methods: Impressibility and Deductive Reasoning — Personal Conditions Necessary 
for Reading Character — Electricity, or Animal Magnetism an Agency in Reading 
Character — Eve and Satan — Necessity of Adherence to First Impressions — How to 
Know whether one has good Ability to Read Character — Method to be Pursued in 
Studying the Face — Outlines of the Face and Features — Circumstances and Con- 
ditions under which People are to be Studied. 



SIGNS OF CHARACTER, ....... 28-36 

Indications of a Fine Mind — A Clear-Thinking Mind — A Harmonious Character — A 
Mind that Loves and Appreciates that which is Beautiful — Is Beauty only Skin 
Deep? — Beautiful Eyes — Large, Round, Full and Projecting Eyes — Excessive Pas- 
sion — Laxity of the Passions — Pain and Pleasure — Dimples in the Cheek — A Sus- 
picious Nature — Revenge — Sagacity — Necessity of Further Discovery. 



EXPRESSION, 37-51 

How it is Caused or Produced — Perfection of Character — What the Organic Quality Does 
— Lines and Expression around the Mouth — Fine Features — What gives the Eyes 
their Individual and Peculiar Look — Fascinating Power of the Eye — What Persons 
Notice Most in Others — What the Face, as a Whole, Reveals — Language of the 
Chin — Formation of the Jaws in Relation to Will Power — The Mouth, the Nose, 
the Eyes — Meaning of the Words Mind, Spirit and Soul — What the Eyes Express — 
Black Eyes — Light Eyes — Round Eyes — Flat Eyes — What the Hair Indicates — The 
Different Colors and Quality — A Properly Developed Character — How to Think 
Right — The Lips, and What they Indicate — Signs of Character in the Walk — 
Restless, Craving, Passionate Natures — Gum-Chewing Women. 



BLONDES AND BRUNETTES, ...... 52-60 

Definition of Blondes and Brunettes — An Intermediate Type — Why Tropical regions pro- 
duce Brunettes, and the Temperate, Blondes — Cause of diversity of Color in the 
Eyes — Blood, and its relation to the Mind — Characteristics of Hazel and Black- 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

eyed people— The nature of one's Magnetism modified by the Nature and Color of 
the Blood — Insinuation, two kinds of it applicable to Brunettes — The Reserved 
Nature of Brunettes — The Nature of their Affections — Deficient Character of 
Blondes — The Conscience of Blondes — Their inclination to Sin — Their Cleanliness 
—Cause of Temper — Different kinds of Temper — Red-haired Persons. 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER, .... 61-83 

The Progressive Development of Americans — The means by which their Future and Per- 
fect Character will be Produced — Criticism— The Phrenologist's standard of judging 
Individuals — Parents and -their Daughters — Pre-eminent Quality of the American 
Head — Wherein the Life of Americans consists — What they require to Develop — 
How they Live and Act — What produces Dyspepsia — American Women, their Na- 
ture and Organization — Their mode of Life, and its Effects upon them — Boarding- 
house Life — Its relation to Social and Domestic Happiness — The Mental Charac- 
teristics of Americans — The Organs most Predominant in their Heads — Comparison 
between them and the French and English — What the Natural Tendency of Amer- 
icans is — Their Taste, and how they use it in contradistinction to the French — 
Nature of Benevolence in American Character: its Difference as compared with the 
English and Germans— Happiness of Americans and in what it consists — Faculties 
that particularly mark the American Head — Anecdotes Illustrating them: A Beggar; 
a Boot-black and his manoeuvres; a Lady who wanted the Use of a Sewing-machine 
— What makes the best Business Man — What produces a Panic — Hope, and its 
Influence on the Character — The Liberty and Freedom of Americans, and its Cause: 
its tendency to Evil — Cause of Suspicion, so prominent in American Character — 
The five Defects in American Character: the first, Deficiency of Love; second, Lack 
of Continuity; third, Lack of Reverence and Propriety; fourth, Lack of Genuine 
Friendship; fifth, Tameness of Character — What Woman's Rights consist in. 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY, 84-106 

Cause of Dishonesty — Has Man the power to regain lost Purity? — Is there a Personal 
Devil? — Adamistic Sin — A Principle of Phrenology— Relation of Mind and Body — 
Primary Cause of Disease and Sin — Perverted Faculties — How to counteract Pas- 
sion and form a pure Character — The Influence of Amorous Thoughts — Definition 
of Conscience — Its relation to other Faculties — No Person perfectly Honest — Three 
Prerequisites to Honesty — Education of the Conscience: How to do it — Time re- 
quired to Reform Character — Cause of Criminal Acts — How to Determine a Person's 
Honesty — Persons Honest in some things and Dishonest in others, and why they 
are so — How to judge of Young Men and Young Women — How to perceive Sin- 
cerity or Insincerity in others — The Kind of Place a Thief will Seek — Great or 
Intellectual Thieves, and Petty Thieves — How a Boy Thief stole a Pocket-Book — 
The Man who was Robbed on the Railroad Cars — Qualification for a Wholesale 
Thief— Policy Honesty — Genuine Honesty, and the Principle it springs from — How 
a Dishonest Person acts in general Conduct — The Policy Man — Signs of Honesty — 
The Consummation of Meanness — Qualification for Money-making — How the Poor 
can have and maintain their Rights— Signs of Honesty and Dishonesty in the 
Countenance — How Honest and Dishonest Men act — Selfishness — The Social Na- 
ture of Man Suffers through Dishonesty. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 9 

THEORY AND PRACTICE, 107-118 

What True Theories are Founded upon — What Practicality arises from —Location of the 
Theoretical and Practical Organs — The Difference between the two Classes — Qual- 
ifications Essential to Scientific and Philosophic Investigation — Cause of Erroneous 
Theories among noted Philosophers — Why Scientific Men are generally Skeptical 
— Why Religious Leaders or Teachers are Frequently Opposed to Science — What 
Leads to Radicalism, Materialism and Sentimentalism — Intellectual Religion, True 
Religion, Ignorant jChristians — How some Persons Pray — Long Sermons, Speeches, 
Prayers, etc. — The Sabbath-day*— Neglecting one's Spiritual Nature — Why State- 
ments are often Misunderstood — Why the Ministry of Christ was Successful — Cause 
of Insanity. 

FAST MEN AND WOMEN, 1 19-145 

The Two Forces of Nature — The Meaning of the Term Fast — Two Classes Represented 
— Appetite Created in the One leads to the Other — Abuse of Free-will — What Sin 
is — Inherent Principles of the Soul — Action — Love of Freedom — Desire — Love of 
Opposites — Curiosity — Acquisitiveness — Two Things Necessary to Cause a Fast 
Life — Temptation of Christ and Eve — Phrenological Characteristics of Fast Men 
and Women — Hereditaiy Causes — External Causes of a Fast Life: Attraction, Re- 
pulsion, Evil Suggestions, Novel-Reading — How Novels are Furnished — Public 
Libraries — A Laundry Girl — Scandals — Parents Responsible for the Dissipation of 
their Children — Evil of Advising them to Marry against their Will — How Elders of 
the Church fail to do their Duty — Heathen Caste — Long-faced Christians — What 
Christ Meant when He said to Peter, "Feed my Lambs" — Fallen Women — How 
they get into the Palace of Sin, and why they seldom return to a Life of Purity — 
Sad Case of two Women in Washington Jail — Why there are so many Prosti- 
tutes — Assignation Houses —The Tricks of Women to Excite Men's Curiosity and 
Amativeness — Women their own Seducers — King Solomon's Opinion concerning 
them — Some Prostitutes make good Wives — Why Woman is Woman's Worst Ene- 
my — Sly Fast Women — How they Operate — Restaurant Waiters — The Undercurrent 
of Society — A Class of Married Women who are too Liberal in their Sentiments — 
What Constitutes a Fast Character — Fast Men — Causes of their being so. 



CONFIDENCE MEN AND BLACKMAILERS, ' . . . 146-166 

Confidence-Men and Women: The Phrenology of them — Manifestation of the Fac- 
ulties — The Education of them — Definition of a Black-mailer- -The kind of Society 
in which the worst Class is Found — Two general Classes of Confidence-Men — How 
the Papers fail to Expose them — Incident Illustrating a Game Practiced upon an 
old Man one Sabbath Morning: How it was Accomplished — Country People and 
City People — How both Classes Suffer— Seduction a Species of Confidence-game — 
Mock-auction Sales, and the Tricks that are Practiced there — Professional Burglars 
— The Panel Game— How it is Worked and by what Class — Dead Beats — How 
Clerks and Book-keepers are Frequently Confidence-Men — The Society Confidence- 
Man — Story Illustrating the latter Class — How Confidence-Men try to gain the 
Sympathy of Persons — How two Young Ladies kept up Personal Appearance when 
in Straitened Circumstances — How Ladies Play the Confidence-game — The Girl 
who wanted a new pair of Gloves — How a Wealthy Man was Confidenced by a 
Fast Woman — The Arts and Tricks of Women to Excite the Curiosity and Passions 



IO TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

of Men — The Ingenious Devices of Bad Women to Raise Money and Advertise 
themselves. 

Black Mailing: Two Forms, and Causes of it — A Story Explaining one of the Forms — 
A case of Adultery — The Demand for Money— How a Doctor and his Associate 
Extorted Money from a Young Man — How Business Men are the Victims of Female 
Operators— Other kinds of Black-mailing— That done through Spite and Retalia- 
tion — An Illustration of it — How two Young Ladies Managed to Dress Elegantly 
— Black-mail practiced on Educational Institutions — How Men Black-mail Women 
— How to Resist and Counteract Black-mailers. 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE, . 167-181 

The Dividing Line — The Young Lady who tried and failed to get into High Life — Phren- 
ology points out how the two Classes may Associate — Aristocratic Christians — The 
Faculties that Constitute Aristocracy —The Organic Difference between the two 
Classes, and what each needs to do— How to obtain Equality of Rights — The 
Hereditary and Educational Differences Existing between the two — The cause of 
Low Organism — How Children can be Born Healthy and Beautiful, Moral and 
Intellectual — Religious Character Transmitted — Why the Children of Ministers, or 
any pious person, sometimes turn out to be the Worst in the Neighborhood — Man 
Endowed with two Gifts not Imparted to Animals- — The Conception of Christ — 
How to Transmit a Religious Character — Why Cain was a Murderer and Abel a 
good Man — Why the youngest Children of a Family are generally the most Beau- 
tiful and Best — The Educational Difference in High and Low Life — How the Poor 
can Improve their present Condition — The Faculties they need to Cultivate, and 
how to do it — How to Obtain a Finer Physical Nature — How the Poor are to be 
Elevated — Why the Sciences are not more generally Studied — The Stumbling-block 
in the way of the Poor. 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY, .... 182 220 

What it is— What it has done — Original Sin, in what did it consist? — The Evil and Power 
of Flattery — Its Poisonous Effect — The Fundamental Principle of Sin — Why Flat- 
tery is so frequently used, and by whom — Two kinds of Flattery — How Children 
are Spoiled — Its Prevalence in the Church — How Pastors and People are Injured 
by it — Man-worship — How Women Tempt their Pastor — Presentations, and what 
they mean — Self-praise — Our Friends sometimes our worst Enemies — Criticism 
more to be Desired than Flattery— How Flattery affects Females — Other Forms of 
Flattery — Persons who are always Smiling — How some Women are ruined by Flat- 
tery — The Class of Men who make use of it — The Manner in which Public Persons 
are Flattered — The Woman with a Hundred Dresses — Vanity of Servant Girls — The 
Theater, its Influence upon the Mind for Good or Evil — Powdering, Painting and 
Padding of the Human Form — Artistic Taste and Ability — A Philadelphia Woman 
who wanted a Pretty Picture — What Persons mean when they speak Disparagingly 
of themselves — Why People use Flattery — Self-flattery — The Bible on Flattery — 
The Various Manifestations of Approbativeness — Results of the Mortification of 
this Organ — The Woman who tried to Shoot her Son-in-Law — How a Young Lady 
Avenged herself of an Insult — Cause of Retaliation, and Incidents Illustrating it — 
The Meanest kind of Meanness — What a Woman is— Her Weakest and Strongest 
Points of Character — Why there is need of greater Perfection in Female Character 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. II 

— The late Prince Imperial of France — The late General Custer — Doctors and Viv- 
isection — Manoeuvres of Young Ladies to Attract Attention — Origin of Kings and 
Queens— Vanity in School Commencements — Sunday-school Concerts — Why a Vain 
Girl hated Religion — The Proud, Haughty Behavior of a Young Woman in a Street- 
car — The Plain Old Woman — Conceit — Betting — Misun lerstandings and Misrepre- 
sentations — Touchy People — How Friendship is Turned to Enmity — How Conceited 
People Talk and Act — A Conceited Doctor — A Dog and Elephant — Conceit in 
Relation to Religion — Two Convicts — Ingersoll— Long Trails — Quaker Ladies — 
Exaggeration — Lying — Historical Lies — Deception — The Woman who saw a Glass 
Stove — Whispering and Laughing in Public Gatherings —The Tell-tale Disposition 
— Troublesome Kisses — The L'/ve of Power and Authority — Jealousy in the Army 
— In Government Positions — In Associations and Boards— Funeral Vanity. 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE, .... 221-253 

The Important question— Money what all Men labor for — The Selfishness of Men— The 
Secret of Success — The difference in Talent between Doing Business and Managing 
it — Bad Beginning versus Ending — Getting into the Wrong Occupation, and its 
Results — In a hurry to get Rich — Time wasted trying to find out what one is fit 
for — Health, and its relation to Business — Serf-Knowledge — Danger of Speculation 
— A General Knowledge of Mankind — A Business Man's Experience — Value of In- 
telligent Female Help — Qualities of a good Salesman — How they Sell Goods — Why 
those who Buy Goods should understand Human Nature — How to hire Help — How 
to study Human Nature — The School Superintendent who was taken in by a Con- 
fidence Man — Understanding one's Business — Mistakes of some Beginners in Busi- 
ness — Where to do Business, and why some Business Enterprises and Institutions 
Fail — Outside Appearances have a good deal to do with Success — So has the Study 
of Local Geography — The amount of Capital necessary — The Executive Power in 
Business — Value of Perseverance and Push — Tricks of Advertising — The Ability to 
carry out Plans — Concentration of Effort — Sticking to one thing — Square-dealing 
or Integrity in business — Punctuality in meeting Engagements and in paying Bills — 
The Business Value of Time — The Lawyer and School Teacher —Economy in Busi- 
ness — Foresight and Calculation — Counting the Cost— Intuition, or First Impres- 
sions — Good and Regular Habits— Quickness of Apprehension and Decision. 



MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND RELIGIOUS CHARACTER, . 254-320 

The Early History of the Race — The Jews, their Intellectual Ability — Predominance of 
the Propensities — Cause of Jewish Bitterness toward Christ — His Work — Miracles, 
Parables — New Testament and Old Testament Dispensations — The Ten Command- 
ments — Why they were Reduced to Two when Christ came —The Growth of the 
Race Compared to the Growth of a Child — The Spiritualization of Man — Three 
Ages: the Iron, the Silver, the Golden — Man a Progressive Being — Three Divisions 
of the Brain — Organic Quality as Affecting Man's Spiritual Nature — Selfish Pro- 
pensities — How the Church has Gained its Present Influence — Three Evils in the 
Church — Rich Men, their Influence in the Church — The Character of Judas — Min 
isters, their Relation to Finances — A Charlatan— How Church Buildings are Im- 
properly used — The Acquisition of Members — Genuine and Spurious Revivals — 
The Mistake Revival Leaders and Religious Teachers are apt to make — Why it is 
so hard for a Rich Man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven — Fashion in the Church 



12 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

— Its Injurious Effects — The Organs from which the spirit of Fashion arises— How 
Vanity is created — Why Poor People do not attend Church more — Sitting at the 
Communion-Table with Gloves on — Why Persons fail to Perceive their Faults — 
Preachers who get large Salaries — Fashionable Church People — Disposition of 
Church Members — Cause and Diversity of Dispositions — The Hardest thing the 
Gospel has to Conquer — Two Opposite Conditions of the Heart — Meanness — Quar- 
relsome Spirit in Churches— The Unfair- dealing Spirit among Christians — Self- 
praise in Churches — Relation of Members to each other — The lack of Friendship 
among Christians — Indications of a Worldly Spirit in the Church — What Satan 
would look like in Human Form— How every Faculty is Pictured in the Human 
Countenance — Description of Mean Tricks Practiced among Christians — Being 
Large-hearted — How to Determine the kind of Heart one has — Lukewarm 
Christians. 

Funeral Prayer-Meetings: Why they are so — Carelessness of the Church in regard 
to Young Members— The Policy of the Church toward them Wrong — Lack of the 
Social Element in the Church — How Church Sociables are generally Conducted — 
The Failure of the Church to Develop Talent among its Members — Mechanical 
Prayer-Meetings. 

The Mental Heart and Conversion: The Human Soul a Trinity — The Work of 
Conversion Threefold — Definition of the Powers of the Soul — Three Things Nec- 
essary to Salvation — Marriage — Positive and Negative Forces of the Soul — The 
Seat of the Heart — The Scriptural Heart — The Cerebellum the Impulsive Power 
of the Heart — What makes the Affections active — Hatred, its Cause — The Source 
of all Evil in the Soul — Religion not yet reached the Heart — How the Heart can 
be made Softer and more Susceptible — Cause of Irreligious Nature — Marriage 
Prostitution — Napoleon Bonaparte — Education of Offspring — The Chief Hardening 
Process of the Heart— Difference between Moral and Religious Character. 

Conversion: Scriptural Definition of it — What Spiritual Death and Life is — Conversion 
of Paul — What it is in our Spiritual Nature that Sins and needs Conversion — What 
it is to Become as a Little Child — Three Steps in Conversion — Favorable and Un- 
favorable Conditions to Conversion — Perverted Amativeness — How it repels the 
Gospel — How Sensuality is Transmitted to the Unborn Child — The Extent of De- 
ranged Amativeness — Libertines not Interested in the Church — The Sentimental 
Nature, how it rejects the Gospel — Dancing and Theaters — Aristocratic Feeling — 
Object of Conversion — Physiological Qualifications Essential to Successful Preach- 
ing — How some Ministers Harden their Hearers — The Amount of Religious Char- 
acter Depending on certain Conditions — How the Faculties Influence Religious 
Character — Phrenological Explanation of the Three Graces: Faith, Hope and 
Charity — Ideas of Heaven — Christian Character shown in the Countenance- 
Parable of the Sower — Genuine Christians — Can Man be Lost after he is Converted 
— Definition of the Will — Free Will, what it is — God's Will — Doctrine of Election 
Explained — Is Salvation Limited or Unlimited — Was Christ's Death for all the 
World, or part of it — The Extent of Man's Freedom. 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM, 3 2 1-368 

Diversities of Mind and their Causes — A Reason for Men being Skeptics — Two General 
Causes — Difference Between Skepticism and Infidelity — Infidel Character — An Old 
Infidel in Iowa— The Bible and Phrenology — The Conceited Infidel— The Lawyer 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 

Infidel — What Skeptics are Like — What Skepticism Does — The Narrow-Mindedness 
of Skeptics — My Experience Among Free-Thinkers — The World Without a Bible — 
Unbalanced Minds — What led me to Investigate Infidelity — My Discovery of its 
Cause— In What it Consists — The Facial Expression of Skeptics and Infidels — Is a 
Man Responsible for What he is or Believes — How we may Become more Perfect 
— The Case of Socrates and the Physiognomist— How the Skeptic Misuses his 
Faculties — The Skeptic's Religion — Religious Ignorance and Inconsistency — Chris- 
tianity Caricatured — How Intelligent Beings are Governed — Ingersoll and his Illus- 
tration— Its Fallacy — Why the Infidel is Opposed to God's Spiritual Government — 
What Constitutes a Christian — Position of the Organs of the Brain and their Rela- 
tion to Character — Why Scientific Men are often Skeptics — Cause of Materialism 
and Rationalism — Why God is an Object of Worship to us — Why Many Reject 
Christ's Divinity — Imitation and the Character it Imparts — Cause of Plagiarism — 
What Modifies a Man's Faith— The Skeptical Preacher — Physiognomical Evidence 
of Christianity— The Young Lady with fine Religious Head and Character — Rela- 
tion Between Soul and Body — The Engrafting of Religion into the Heart — The 
Difference Between the Christian and Man of the World — Internal and External 
Agencies in Forming Character— Hereditary Influence before Birth — Parental Influ- 
ence after Birth — The Preacher who Whipped his Child to Death — The Mistake of 
Parents — Long Sermons and Services — Children great Imitators— Skeptical Influ- 
ence of some Books and Lectures — Newsdealers and their Perverted Tastes — The 
Church partly Responsible for Skepticism — My own Experience — Social System of 
Churches Wrong — Poor Teachers in Sabbath-Schools — Church Fairs and Theatrical 
Performances in Churches — Mean Christians — Bare-faced Preachers. 



HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE, 369-412 

The Important Question — Man's Mistake — Bad Breath of Men and Women — Its Effect 
on Adults and Children — Silent Forces — The Five Senses — Their Use and Abuse — 
Their Perfection — Tobacco Chewers and Smokers — The Cause of Foul Breath — 
Illustrations — Offensive Effluvia of some Persons — Its Cause and Remedy — Sense 
of Touch — Annoyance caused by its Deficiency — Awkward People — How they 
Spoil Books, etc. — Churches and Church Sextons — Improper Lighting, Heating 
and Ventilation of Churches and Halls — Effect of Light on the Mind — Shutting 
Light out of Dining Rooms — Poorly Kept Hotels and Boarding-houses — The Men 
who Keep them — Poor Food — Dirty Habits of Hotel Help— Kind and Quality of 
Food — Evil of too much hot Meats — Inconvenience of hot Meals — Need of a Rev- 
olution on the Subject of Eating and Living — How to Make pure Bodies — Cheap 
Restaurants — Diversity of Food needed for certain Purposes — A Cause of Drunk- 
enness — Cause of Weak Specimens of Humanity — Care and Worry as Affecting 
the Stomach — Lazy People — A Sick Wife — Two Sisters — Care of the Feet — Relation 
of Food to Character — Meats, Vegetables, Grains and Fruits: what they Feed — 
Man's Responsibility and Obligation to Preserve his Health — What Makes Bone — 
Sunlight — Development of Passion — How to Cure Biliousness— Baths — No need of 
People being Sick — Drugs and their Effect — The general Prevalence of Sickness 
— Impropriety of Charging it to the Lord — Physical Laws and Spiritual Laws — 
Cleanliness — What Wearies an Audience — Watering Places — Mineral Waters — 
Dissipation in Fashionable Life — Over-eating — Sun Baths — Large and High 
Rooms — Using one's Nose — Fretting — Exercise of the Lungs — Necessity of being 
Temperate. 



14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

The Turkish Bath — Very few People know much about this Bath — Curious Notions 
Entertained by some People — The Bath Described — The First or Sweating Process 
— Winter and Spring the best times for Taking this Bath — The Second Process of 
Hand Rubbing— The Good which this Accomplishes — The Bath good for Ladies 
who wish to be Beautiful— Also for tired Business Men — A Cure for Liver Troubles 
— How Often they should be Taken — Doctors and Phrenologists — Other Baths not 
as good as the Turkish. 

FLIRTATION, ........ 413-441 

The Art of Flirting — What it Springs from— A Soft Flirt — Sunday-School Flirts — Summer 
Resort Flirts — Church Flirts — Charge of the Light-Headed Blondes — Two Kinds 
of Flirtation — A Family of Flirts — Mistaken Ideas of Flirting — Its Effect upon the 
Affections— Why Flirting is an Evil — Its Impress on the Face — Mental Effects of 
Flirtation — How it acts upon the Religious Character of Persons — The Influence of 
the Music Organs — The Conscience of Flirts — A Polite Flirt — High-School Flirts 
— A Green Flirt from the Country and his Experience — Changeableness of Flirts — 
Poetry — A Theater Flirt — Flirting in Salem, Mass. — Two Sabbath-School Pupils — 
Men Flirts — Drummers and Agents— Men often Wrongfully Accused of Insulting 
Ladies on the Street — Half Recognition and Full Recognition of Acquaintances 
by Ladies— School-Girls, and how one of them Acted — Inherited Tendencies to 
Flirt— A Funny Little Girl— A Flirt's Letter — Poetry— A Flirt's Diary — Dishonest 
Flirts — Their Business Qualities — Soft Young Men — An Old Flirt in Chicago — The 
Kind of Minds that Flirt — Superficial Education — Poetry. 



SHAM -MODESTY, 442-466 

What it is — Its Cause— What Young People Do and Read — How it Ruins Young People 
— Ignorance — Art Galleries — Civilization — Two Girls in the Washington, D. C, 
Art Gallery — Dress and Prostitution — Fancy Pictures — Statuary — What Regulates 
Taste — Where Immodesty Exists — Arts of Women — What Excites Amativeness — 
Sentimental Sham Modesty — A Lecturer's Observations — A Kind of Sham Modesty 
Peculiar to Ministers — How the Public are Affected by it — Mock Modesty with 
Church Members — How it Prevents the Truth Being Spoken — False Modesty the 
Mother of Ignorance — The Cure for Sham Modesty — Sham Modesty in the Use of 
Words and Expressions -Personal Experiences — False Modesty in Society — Sham 
Modesty in its Relation to Kissing — Who and How to Kiss and Who Not— Kissing 
Among Women— Kissing Games at Picnics— What the Schools do not Teach. 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD, 467-512 

Opposites a Law of Nature— This same Law Applies to Human Spirits — Kindred Spirits 
Flock Together and Corrupt each other What a Man Soweth that shall he also 
Reap — Incident to Illustrate the Fear of Guilt — Three Things to Notice in Connec- 
tion with Spirits— Their Birth, Looks and Doings — Evil Hereditary in a Large 
Measure — Some Spirits are Born Bad — Some Become Bad through Evil Association 
— Some through Defective Education— Low Theaters — Filthy Conversation — Bad 
Company — The Case of a Young Lady in Canada — Good Spirits are Born and 
Raised through Good Parents and the right kind of Education — The Trouble with 
the Majority of Schools — Evil Spirits are Forever Doing Something to Curse Man- 
kind — Three ways of Showing up Character — By Action, Voice and Expression — 
The Influence of a Selfish Nature does not last long— Every Man the Architect of 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1 5 

his own Character — Hot Sinners and Cold Sinners — Illustrations of both Kinds — 
Young Lady in California — Piano-Tuner — How to tell whether one's own Spit it is 
Good or Bad— A Man's Face the Picture of his Soul — Different Kinds of Wicked- 
ness Produce Different Kinds of Facial Expression— Good and Bad Souls can be 
Felt as well as Seen — The Triune Method of Reading Character — Phrenology, 
Physiognomy and Psychology — The Electrical Power Thrown off by Persons and 
Audiences — Illustrations of this — How Bad Spirits can be Detected — Blonde and 
Brunette Wickedness or Goodness — The Human Family, as a whole, Resembles 
the Starry Firmament. 

HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL, 513-540 

The Natural Desire for, and Love of, Beauty— Spoiled and Ugly Faces — Physical and 
Mental Beauty — Beauty More than Skin Deep — Power of Beauty — Wicked Beauty 
and True Beauty — Character and Beauty — The Mistake People make in Judging 
of Beauty — How the Human Countenance can be Changed— The Relation of the 
Face to the Mind — What Constitutes Perfect Beauty —Beauty of Flowers, their 
Influence on Home Life — The Relation of Light to Beauty — Cheerful Rooms — 
Perverted use of Flowers and Objects of Beauty — The Development of a Spirit of 
Vanity— How to Become Beautiful — Influence of Beauty on Character — Grecian 
Beauty — Influence of the Passions on Beauty — The Chief Cause that Mars the 
Beauty of the Face — The Quickest Thing to Beautify the Expression— Powder and 
Paint: their Effect upon the Skin and Expression — Why Some are Ugly — The 
Cheeks of Babies — What Produces Beauty — Female Beauty Contrasted with Flowers 
— Education as Related to Beauty — Story of Indian Girls and the Influence of Ed- 
ucation upon their Faces — Piety as Related to Beauty — Fascinating and Seductive 
Beauty — Influence of Climate on Beauty — In What the Charms of Female Beauty 
Consist — Influence of Sight on the Mind and Face — Relation of Color, Form, 
Beauty and Character — Sweet Thoughts — Selfishness — Wealth — Sunlight and its 
Effect on the Face— Hope for the Homely— A Traveler who Visited Niagara Falls 
—Smiles — How Women Conquer the Hard Hearts of Men. 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER, 541-593 

Various Ways of Taking in a Stranger — Difference in Strangers — Church Buildings and 
Church Trustees — The Stamford (Conn.) Committee — Papers and their Editors — 
Experience in Wheeling, W. Va. — In Willimantic, Conn. — In Saratoga, N. Y. — In 
Anamosa, la. — At Long Branch — Y. M. C. Associations — Boarding-Houses — At 
Burlington, la. — Near Boston, Mass. — All Boarding-Houses not Bad, However — 
Eating-Houses on Railroads — Private Houses Better than Hotels, Generally — Bad 
Beds in Hotels — Treatment of Baggage — Persons who Oppose Everything just for 
the sake of Being Contrary — Public School Boards and their Little Peculiarities— 
Curious People who Watch Strangers — All Sorts of Singular People- Many Bright 
Spots in a Traveler's Life — Experience at Petersburg, Va.— The Know-Nothing 
Class of People — Dead-Beats and Swindlers — Curiosity of Women — Unsympathetic 
Audiences — People who get Mad at Phrenologists for Telling them the Truth — 
Examples of this Class — Strangers often the Subject of Idle Gossip— Strangers not 
Expected in some parts of the Country to have Minds of their own — Experiences 
in some of the Southern States — Strangers often Unjustly Tabooed by Society — 
Picnic Incidents— The Path of Life a Diversified one. 



PHRENOLOGY, . 594 627 




HENRY BERGH, 

Founder and President of the American Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Animals. 



Observe the high forehead, or fullness in the top and front part of the head and the 
long form of the face in proportion to the width of the head. Sympathetic people gener- 
ally ha\^' the long, narrow face and high forehead. Those destitute of sympathy, or pos- 
sessing very little, have the broad head, short face, and flat at the top of the forehead. A 
beautiful young lady in New York, with a round head and comparatively low forehead, is 
noted for her lack of sympathy for the brute creation. Such persons, when driving, care 
very little for the poor horse, so long as they have all the pleasure and fun they want, never 
seeming to think or care how exhausted or tired a horse maybe — they think only of them- 
selves. The broad head is selfish, and works for itself; but the long, narrow head works 
for the interest of others. 



PHYSIOGNOMY DEFINED. 



Two kinds: Active and Passive— Form and Expression — Use of Physiognomy — Intuitive 
Perception — Mental Process of Physiognomy — Animal Physiognomy — Can Physi- 
ognomy. be relied upon ? — Types of Character — Principles of Human Nature. 



PHYSIOGNOMY may be defined, first, as the revelation of the 
character or spirit of any living organic being, by and through the 
form, expression and color of the features ; second, as the art and 
science of discerning and understanding the character so revealed 
to the observer. In other words, there are two kinds of physiog- 
nomy: Active and Passive. 

Everything in the world is stamped with its own peculiar physi- 
ognomy. Man has his ; the beasts of the field have theirs ; birds, 
fishes and reptiles have theirs. But I object to the idea of apply- 
ing the term physiognomy scientifically to anything that has not a 
medium degree of intelligent or instinctive life. Inanimate things 
may have form and color, but they lack expression, which is the 
distinguishing feature of physiognomy. There must be both form 
and expression. Form reveals the general character, quality or 
condition, and expression the mind or disposition. 

But, to be more definite, I do not consider that the ability which 
a person possesses to read and define the various expressions of the 
human countenance can be properly called physiognomy, any more 
than the reading and understanding of printed matter can be called 
printing. 

Physiognomy is a sign which the Divine Being has written in 
plain characters upon the face of every living being, for the benefit 
of each other. It is the window of the outer man, through which 
the observer Ljcomes acquainted with the nature of the inner man. 
It is also the means by which we can determine the nature of 
everything around us; rocks and stones do not look like blocks of 
wood — we distinguish the one from the other by their appearance. 



l8 PHYSIOGNOMY DEFINED. 

The talent or ability which men and women possess to read 
each other, I should prefer to call Intuitive Perception, because it 
is only through this kind of perception that we can successfully 
understand the human countenance. 

We first perceive the appearance of one's features by the aid of 
our perceptive or observing faculties, which are located immediately 
over the nose and eyes. These impressions are transmitted to the 
reflective faculties, which occupy the upper portion of the forehead, 
and through the action of these faculties we conceive the character 
and nature of the individual as indicated in the appearances we 
have just observed; so that in reading human nature, the opera- 
tion of the mind is two-fold — first, perceptive, and second, concep- 
tive ; or, in other words, we first analyze, then synthetize. 

For convenience and general use, however, the term physiog- 
nomy may be applied to designate either the language of the 
features or the ability to read them ; and in its broadest meaning 
may include the recognition of all material and inanimate objects 
by their size, form and color. 

Its use or practice is confined by men principally to the human 
family, as the reading of animals is generally considered of no par- 
ticular use, except so far as it helps us to discern the character of 
men and women, who, in their disposition and physiological struc- 
ture, resemble some animal, bird, fish or reptile. 

A gentleman who had been a farmer and had considerable ex- 
perience with oxen, told me that when he wanted to buy a good 
working ox, he selected one with a broad head and prominent eyes, 
in preference to one with a long head and sunken eyes. 

The study of physiognomy in the animal kingdom might, and 
ought to be pursued with great interest and benefit. Every horse- 
jockey and dealer in cattle ought to study and practice animal 
physiognomy. The spirit, activity and strength of a horse can be 
determined by its facial expression and physical development, just 
as easily as we can discover similar conditions in a human being. 
A mere novice in physiognomy cannot but observe the differ- 
ence between the noble and somewhat intelligent look of a New- 
foundland dog, and the savage, threatening appearance of the 
bull-dog. 

I am inclined to think that animals make use of physiognomy 



PHYSIOGNOMY DEFINED. 19 

as much, if not more, than men do. They not only read each 
other, but they minutely observe their master, man. 

Physiognomy and natural history are so closely allied that they 
should be studied together, and I am not sure but geology should 
also be included. Bacon once remarked that physiognomy was a 
science founded on observation, and ought to be studied in connec- 
tion with natural history. Physiognomy enters very largely into 
a number of the sciences. When you study the rocks and surface 
of the earth you are really studying the earth's physiognomy; and 
when the astronomer gazes through his telescope on worlds beyond 
his natural vision, he also is studying the physiognomy of the 
heavenly bodies ; in fact, everything in the world around us and 
above us, has its physiognomy —the very house you live in, the large 
variety of flowers, trees, fruits, etc., are distinguished from each 
other like persons by their respective physiognomies, hence, there is 
no end to the study of this science; it is as far-reaching and varied 
as the universe itself. Even books have their physiognomies, and 
those that live in the memories of the people and are handed down 
from generation to generation are those books that have the most 
human nature in them. Take the Bible, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Prog- 
ress and Shakespeare's works, as illustrations, all of them descrip- 
tive of character fr<;m the beginning to the end. 

It is very strange that a science so valuable, so easily acquired 
and applied, should be so much overlooked and neglected by the 
great mass of mankind. 

Still I do not wonder much when I remember how much igno- 
rance and prejudice concerning physiognomy and phrenology 
exist in the minds of even educated people. I have in my mind a 
doctor of divinity, who told me he wouldn't want any phrenologist 
to put his hands on his daughter's head ; and, when I asked him 
why not, he intimated that he didn't think it would be modest or 
quite proper. Fortunately, however, greater men than the one I 
have just referred to have endorsed physiognomy and studied it; 
and I believe^jthe day is coming when it will be universally put 
into practice. 

All mental philosophers recognize the mind to be composed of 
a number of distinct faculties ; also, that the brain is the organ of 
the mind. Therelore, the brain, reasoning from analogy, must be 
composed of a number of distinct organs, which is demonstrated 



20 PHYSIOGNOMY DEFINED. 

by the fact that when the mind or brain is tired of one kind of 
labor or exercise, it will find relief and rest by engaging in some 
other; that is, by bringing some other faculty and organ into 
exercise ; for it is really the brain that tires, not the mind. If the 
brain was not composed of distinct organs, then it could never rest- 
I am aware that every person makes use of physiognomy to a 
certain extent, because they cannot help doing so. It would be 
impossible for one person to look at another without forming an 
opinion, either favorable or unfavorable; but to study and pursue 
this science in a systematic manner, so as to be sure that their im- 
pressions are correct, is something very few are in the habit of doing. 

Young people will spend any amount of time over sickly, senti- 
mental novels or love stories that are descriptive of some highly- 
colored romance, where a poor, homely, red-headed fellow manages 
to win the heart and person of the most beautiful woman in the 
world, after passing through the most trying ordeals, and perhaps 
hair-breadth escapes from death — stories that picture life as far 
from reality as black is from white, that ruin the memory, enfeeble 
the intellect, inflame the passions, and draw so heavily upon the 
sympathies that body and mind grow tired — books that, when read 
at evening alone, bring sleepless nights, dreams of death, or make 
the heart beat as though it must burst at every sigh of the mind. 
These books excite sympathies for that which has no real existence, 
and unnerve the heart for the true battle of life. They will shed 
easy tears over the harrowing tale of a novel, but never see, in real 
life, the misery that needs sympathy, and cries out to God against 
them because it is withheld. By feeding on such stuff their senses 
are blunted, and they see no real poverty or woe in the world, and 
no heroes or heroines save their own unappreciated selves ; and 
instead of laying hold, like true men and women, upon the great prob- 
lems of life, and, by the very force of will, surmounting the obstacles 
that lie in their way,, they pander to this corrupt taste, become 
feeble-minded, and unfit themselves for the stern realties of life. 
Such stories create an insatiate thirst for a fictitious life, or a long- 
ing desire for an indescribable something that a depraved taste and 
morbid imagination may picture, but which can never be realized. 
They will read, study and think about a character that is only a 
myth, rather than in a practical and scientific manner, study the 
actual characters of the men or women they intend to make their 




E. D. ORMSBY, Photographer, 

OF CALIFORNIA. 

This head is a good illustration of the masculine and feminine temperaments about 
equally combined; hence he possesses the characteristics of both sexes. He hcs the in- 
tuition, penetration, susceptibility, and gentleness of a woman, and the power, strength, 
energy, perseverance of a man. Hcs a well balanced head, and is well adapted for the 
finer pursuits of life. He has a rare combination of business ability and the artistic, and 
is therefore likely to be successful in almost anything he undertakes. The drooping of 
one corner of the eyelid over the eye indicates natural shrewdness, policy, and the ability 
to handle customers in a business way. His physiological condition is splendid, and his 
appearance is a picture of almost perfect health, though not so much of that iron consti- 
tution that some possess. He is a natural reader of human nature, and knows just how 
to take people, because he understands their peculiarities. Is liberal minded, whole- 
souled and genial, but careful and economical in business matters, as moderately thin 
and prim lips indicate. The whole expression represents a mind bright, active, wide- 
awake and int lligent. 



PHYSIOGNOMY DEFINED. 2T 

future husbands or wives. They prefer to leave that till the wed- 
ding knot is tied and the honey-moon has set, and the sad hours of 
matrimonial darkness have come in upon their blighted and mistaken 
lives. A romance of a different nature then dawns upon their vision 
— heroes of a different kind then enter upon the stage, and they 
play hate instead of love, and must either live in a matrimonial 
hell, or play the second act, divorce. I do not say that this is the 
result of married life in general — it is the exception, not the rule — 
but it is too often the fate of sentimentalists. 

Some may urge the idea that it is impossible to understand 
human nature with any reasonable degree of accuracy, because it is 
so varied, each person possessing a distinct. character and differing 
from every other person, just as they differ in their looks. Every- 
thing in nature is full of variety, and there are many things we do 
not and cannot comprehend. There are many things concerning 
the nature and character of the Divine Being we do not understand ; 
but that is no reason why we should not investigate the works of 
nature, and study the character of God, so as to understand what 
is revealed, and find out as much as possible. 

There is this fact to be taken into consideration in the study of 
human nature, which will lessen the difficulty very much. Although 
every person has a distinct character, yet there are certain types of 
character, and every person belongs to one or another, or, at least, 
partakes more of the qualities of one than another; so that when 
you understand a certain type, you have the key that will unlock 
the door to the general character of every person belonging to that 
cast or type. In addition to this, there are certain principles which 
lie at the foundation of human nature, and the existence or mani- 
festation of these principles will be perceptible, to a greater or less 
extent, in the formation of individual character. One is, that size 
and quality are a measure of power ; another, that no faculty or organ 
can display its full power until fully developed and properly exer- 
cised ; another, that coarseness or fineness, or in other words, the 
texture of the human body, is indicative of a like condition of the 
mind ; another, that form or shape, such as long, broad, sharp, 
round, etc., likewise accompanies special conditions of character. 

These principles and these manifestations are the same through- 
out the entire human race ; so that if we once understand them and 
carefully apply them, our deductions and conclusions will be correct 
in every instance. 



HOW TO READ CHARACTER. 



Two methods: Impressibility and Deductive Reasoning — Personal Conditions necessary 
for reading Character — Electricity, or Animal Magnetism an agency in reading 
Character — Eve and Satan — Necessity of adherence to First Impressions — How to 
know whether one has good Ability to read Character — Method to be pursued in 
Studying the Face — Outlines of the Face and Features — Circumstances and Condi- 
tions under which People are to be Studied. 



THERE are two methods or ways of reading character. One is 
by impressibility — intuitive reasoning; the other, by comparison, 
aided by the perceptives. Some can read better by the first method, 
and others by the latter, and some by both, which is the best and 
most accurate plan. 

I will first describe what conditions are necessary, and then how 
to apply them, in order to read persons by the first method, which 
I propose to name Impressibility. 

The principal conditions requisite are two — a large amount of 
the organic quality, and very large human nature. To be a suc- 
cessful reader, it is absolutely necessary that you possess the faculty 
of human nature very large ; and to be a gifted or remarkable 
reader^ it is likewise necessary to be endowed with a very sensitive 
nature, which is imparted only by the organic quality. These two 
qualities combined will render a person extremely sensitive, sus- 
ceptible and alive to all kinds of mental and nervous impressions 
and magnetic influences, whether external or internal. 

By mental and nervous impressions, I do not mean ideas pro- 
duced by the action of the mind, nor sensations produced by a dis- 
ordered state of the nervous system ; but rather the nature and 
qualities of the mind, which are more easily impressed upon a per- 
son having a nervous temperament, so that persons thus organized 
not only discern, but actually feel, the mental and physical qualities 
of the subjects before them. 

And here let me say that the ramifications of nerves which ex- 



HOW TO READ CHARACTER. 23 

tend all over the human body, are acknowledged to be a continua- 
tion- of the brain; therefore, if the mind acts upon the brain, it 
must also act upon the nervous system. But the mind cannot act 
upon the brain without a medium or connecting - link, because the 
brain is material and the mind or spirit is not. Electricity is of such 
a subtle and imponderable nature that it occupies a place half way 
between mind and matter, partaking, in all probability, somewhat 
of the nature and qualities of both ; therefore it readily becomes 
the medium, in man, through which the mind or soul is brought in 
contact with matter. 

It is also an acknowledged fact that the body is constantly 
throwing off a nervous or magnetic fluid — a kind of human elec- 
tricity, I suppose. How far this extends from the body of a person 
is not known, but it is to such a distance that when two persons 
approach each other their circles of electricity come in contact 
before they meet. This is what I mean by magnetic influence ; so 
that when two persons of a sensitive nature are brought together, 
they immediately form or receive favorable or unfavorable impres- 
sions of each other, and, in many cases, will either like or dislike at 
first sight. Magnetism is defined to be that agent or force in nature 
which possesses the power of attraction ; but, call it by whatever 
name you will, or define it in whatever terms you may, it is nothing 
more or less than animal electricity. There can be no attraction 
without two objects or two substances exactly the same in nature, 
but directly opposite in their qualities — the one to answer as posi- 
tive, the other as negative. 

Now, there are two kinds of electricity — the one positive and 
the other negative ; or, in other words, the one male, and the other 
female ; and wherever there is positive and negative electricity, 
there will be attraction and unification. Two positives will not 
attract, neither will two negatives ; two men will not attract each 
other, nor will two women. There must be male and female to 
form attraction. 

Wherever there is attraction or repulsion, the easier and quicker 
do we perceive the character of others, and form favorable or un- 
favorable opinions. I believe this is one reason, and probably the 
principal one, why men can read women, and women men, with 
greater ease and certainty than they can their own sex. In fact, 
zvo7ii?7i have a peculiar gift ; they seem to have an inward monitor 



24 HOW TO READ CHARACTER. 

which enables them to jump at their conclusions of men's characters 
and intentions, especially in times of clanger. Providence has prob- 
ably given it to them (they being the weaker vessels) as a safeguard 
against evil ; though it is a great pity mother Eve did not make 
use of it to unravel the cunning devices of the enemy, Satan. And 
yet, when I reflect on it, I believe that Eve did read Satan to a 
certain extent, but, not knowing evil or its results, she made a 
great mistake — just such as we make nearly every day — that is, she 
didn't stick to her first impressions, which a person should always 
do, providing their ability to read character is well developed. 

Having explained the conditions necessary to read character by 
impressibility, a few words will be sufficient to explain how to do it. 
In the first place, you must place yourself in a negative condition 
to the person you wish to read — that is, allow them to make im- 
pressions upon you by the way they look, act and speak ; and do 
not do or say anything of yourself to interrupt, confuse or prevent 
them from revealing themselves as they naturally w r ould. In the 
next place, be sure that the circumstances are favorable for them to 
make, and you to receive, correct impressions. Neither side should 
be placed at a disadvantage. For instance, if one or the other 
should be sick or out of temper, the impressions made on you may 
be wrong. You must endeavor to meet persons fairly and squarely, 
and look them calmly and directly in the face ; observe every angle 
of the face you can — full face, three-quarter face, side face — at the 
same time studying the different expressions of the face ; and let 
your impressions be formed from your very first interview. In 
looking closely at a person, however, never be so bold as to stare 
them out of countenance, because you would not only make them 
feel very uneasy, but render yourself repulsive. 

Having taken general observations, do not be in too great a 
hurry to pronounce your verdict and pass judgment, but wait until 
the interview is over and the individual has left you. Then analyze 
your thoughts and feelings as they flashed across your mind while 
taking observations, and combine them with the impression left 
upon you, and you will form a correct estimate. 

Should you, in time, become better acquainted with the person 
or persons, and different impressions are produced upon you, under 
no circumstances be governed by any other than your first impres- 
sions — providing, as I have previously stated, your talent for reading 




M. M. POMEROY, Editor. 



The lower lip indicates considerable affection and whole-souled nature. The upper 
lip shows his ability to control the affections, being expressive of large firmness. The 
high forehead shows him to be kind and generous. His perceptives are good; and the 
forehead indicates him to be an observer and thinker. He has large conscientiousness 
and approbativeness; but his chief characteristic is indomitable perseverance, persistence, 
determination, will-power — a disposition to fight and overcome every opposing difficulty, 
to firmly adhere to whatever he conscientiously believes is right. The form and expression 
of his face indicates good vitality. 



HOW TO READ CHARACTER. 25 

character is first-class ; if it is not, you must form your opinion 
gradually and cautiously. 

The reason for adhering to first impressions is obvious. The 
oftener you meet, the more persons gain on your good will and 
friendship ; and what at first appears conspicuous, gradually lessens, 
and perhaps disappears. Social intercourse often covers up objec- 
tionable traits; and, on the other hand, your acquaintance may, 
through some business transaction or family affair, create some 
unpleasant feeling that would lessen your appreciation, or cause you 
to change your mind in regard to good qualities. But if your talent 
for reading character is poor, then acquaintance may help you to 
arrive at a proper conclusion. 

Do you ask me how you are to know whether you have first- 
class ability to read human nature ? I answer, there are only two 
ways that I know of. The first and best is to get a good phrenolo- 
gist to tell you. The other way is, to form your opinion of a per- 
son, and then find out if you are correct, by making inquiries, 
watching his conduct and investigating his life and character, in a 
general and constant manner, till you are sure your knowledge is 
correct. Do this with a sufficient number of persons to make it a 
fair test, and if your first impressions harmonize invariably with 
what you learn concerning them, you may conclude you have good 
talent for that purpose; but if your impressions are different, in 
most cases, from what you afterwards discover to be their real na- 
ture, you must, of course, conclude that your ability to read char- 
acter is only average, or perhaps poor. 

There is yet another reason why good readers of character 
should act upon their first impressions. That is, because the nerv- 
ous fluid, which acts as a telegraphic messenger to the mind, will 
conduct impressions correctly, whereas our judgment or ideas of a 
person may be wrong. Then these impressions may never act upon 
us the second time in the same way as they do the first; in fact, 
first sensations are. always different from those that follow. 

As I have mentioned on a preceding page, it is quite necessary, 
in reading a person, to study them from a side view of the face, as 
you are then enabled to observe traits of character you may not see 
in a front view. 

If you take two photographs of a person, one full face, the other 
a side view, you will see how different the same individual looks in 



26 HOW TO READ CHARACTER. 

the two pictures; though it does not follow that the picture that 
portrays him to the worst advantage represents objectionable traits 
of character, any more than the one which shows him to the best 
advantage exhibits the good traits of character. Such may be the 
case or it may not. 

Form is the basis of beauty, and there is always a certain out- 
line of the face which will make the face appear more beautiful than 
any other outline or position — a fact, by the way, which most 
photographers seem to know nothing about; so that in getting the 
best outline of the face you get the best-looking portrait. But the 
object in studying the different angles of the human face, in the 
reading of character, is not to get the best-looking view, but to 
watch for and obtain the different expressions as they come and go, 
and to observe the flashing, darting, glancing and rapid movement 
of the eye, so that you see the emotions and almost read the very 
thoughts of an individual while he is in total ignorance of what you 
are trying to do. It is not well that the individual should know 
that you are trying to read him, because that would cause most 
persons to feel somewhat confused, and present unnatural expres- 
sions; it would also put him on his guard, and so prevent you from 
correctly estimating, by presenting his best appearance. I remem- 
ber a man whose general appearance was that of a plain, unassum- 
ing, honest and sanctimonious kind of individual, but whose hidden 
character did not appear till I observed the expression of his face 
and eye from a side view. It is not sufficient to study or observe 
the face as a whole; but you must scrutinize every feature, and 
even parts of a feature. If the nose, observe its length, breadth, 
prominence; whether concave or convex, sharp or blunt, turned up 
or turned down at the point. If the mouth, its size, shape; whether 
straight or curved, open or compressed, thick lips or thin lips, a 
rosy, healthy color, or pale, scabby, blue-black, dried-up lips; if it is 
the eye, notice the color, shape, size — whether projecting or sunken, 
brilliant or dull, fierce or mild, whether it looks you steadily in the 
face during conversation, or is restless, glancing in all directions ; 
if the chin, whether prominent or deficient, round or square, pointed 
or indented; if the eye-brows, whether raised and retiring from, or 
descending and projecting over the eye — whether they are covered 
with little or much hair, whether light or dark, whether they almost 
meet on the nose or are far apart. 



HOW TO READ CHARACTER. -2J 

In observing the outline of the face, notice whether it is round, 
oval, oblong or pyriform. Likewise, notice the color of the hair, 
its quality — whether straight or curly, soft or stiff, scanty or in 
abundance. Study the tone and modulation of the voice in speak- 
ing and singing. Observe the walk, positions in sitting and stand- 
ing, mode of shaking hands, the attitude taken while so doing. 
The manner of laughing, style of dress, whether neat, tasty and 
clean, or slovenly, whether tightly buttoned up or loose and open. 
In fact, study a person from head to foot, in every conceivable 
manner you can think of. 

When a person makes a remark, or acts in a manner not quite 
clear to your mind, ask yourself the question : Why did that per- 
son say and do thus ? And do not rest contented till you have 
found out, if possible; for in so doing you will gain much knowl- 
edge in regard to the operations of the human mind as forming our 
every-day life and character, and you may likewise discover things 
you were not seeking to find out. 

Study people in their public life, their social life, their private 
life, their domestic life, and in their business transactions; then, 
putting all these together, draw your inference, but never decide 
on the character of men or women from any one of these condi- 
tions in life, or you may form a one-sided and contracted idea of 
their real character. A man may be much censured and abused in 
public life, and adored in private; and thought little of, yea, even 
despised in social circles, but a recognized hero in public life or 
business circles. 

Finally, do not judge of a person so much by his great acts as 
his little acts. Great acts may be performed for show, public 
approbation, a name, or some selfish purpose; but the little acts 
always reveal the true and inner character. People are also cau- 
tious, wide-awake and guarded in their conspicuous deeds; but in 
little things they are not, hence they reveal their true nature with- 
out being aware of it. Especially is this the case with persons of 
large secretiveness; the more they try to evade and conceal their 
thoughts, motives and intentions, the more they show them to a 
close observer of little things. In fact, it is the act of trying to 
cover up, that exposes the very things they wish to hide. 



SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 



Indications of a Fine Mind — A clear- thinking Mind — An harmonious Character — A Mind 
that loves and appreciates that which is Beautiful — Is Beauty only skin deep? — 
Beautiful Eyes — Large, round, full and projecting Eyes— Excessive Passion — Laxity 
of the Passions — Pain and Pleasure — Dimples in the Cheek — A Suspicious Nature- 
Revenge — Sagacity — Necessity of further discovery. 



It is not my intention, in this work, to enter into an elaborate 
description of the signs of character. Most books on this subject 
are too extensive and complicated for the public to peruse. My 
aim is to awaken in the mind of the reader sufficient interest to 
study for him or herself, by mentioning, in a brief manner, a few 
unmistakable signs. 

A fine mind is always indicated by a fine organization. As well 
look for the sun to shine at night, as to see elegance, taste, refine- 
ment and delicacy of thought in one whose body is rough, coarse 
and common. The skin of such a person should be pure-looking, 
soft, even, and of fine texture. The hair should likewise be very 
fine and soft. Mind molds and rules the body, and not the body 
the mind; therefore, if the mind is not finely organized, neither is 
the body. By fineness of mind I mean texture or quality. Every 
person knows the difference between fine and coarse cloth. The 
coarse cloth may be the most serviceable for every-day wear, but 
the fine will be the most valuable, and therefore the most prized 
and taken care of, and will be used only on extra occasions. So 
with a fine and coarse mind — the latter may be good and moral, 
and best adapted for the common duties of life, but the former 
will be contented only in the higher, loftier and purer pursuits and 
walks of life. 

A clear-thinking mind is evinced by a dark, sallow complexion. 
Such persons are generally calm, cool and collected — are definite, 
precise, systematic and comprehensive in their views and manner 
of saying and doing things. They seldom get confused in their 
ideas, and express themselves clearly and positively. A harmo- 



SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 29 

nious character, or one that is evenly balanced in the moral, social, 
intellectual and executive faculties, is manifested, first, by a general 
fullness and uniform appearance of the head. The skull should pre- 
sent an even surface — no bumps, because they indicate that there 
is a deficiency of some other bumps (or more properly speaking, 
organs) near by, or else the other organs are too large, and there 
is an excess of some kind. A head that presents the appearance 
of hills and valleys will show inconsistencies and contradictions 
of character, and a liability to extremes. Not only should the 
head be even, but also equally developed and proportionate. It 
would be difficult to describe just what shape the head ought to be. 
A phrenological plaster-of-Paris head, with all the organs marked 
on it, will give you the best idea. The second sign is proportionate 
and beautifully or properly-formed features. If the nose is concave 
or convex, the mouth unpleasant to look at (having a peculiar or 
objectionable expression around the corners), the chin deficient, 
and the eyes fixed, staring or evasive, look out for some odd and 
mean trait of character. 

A mind that loves and appreciates that which is beautiful must 
have beautiful features, which consist in fine, delicate and har- 
monious combinations of form, connected with a pleasing and 
lovely expression. Form is the basis or frame-work of beauty; 
and two things or conditions are necessary to produce human 
beauty. First, the body, which is form; second, the soul or 
spirit, which gives expression through the form. These two 
qualities combined constitute what we term beauty. When I speak 
of beauty I mean the highest type. In some persons we see an 
excess of mere physical beauty; in. others, an excess of mental and 
moral beauty; and in a third class we see the physical and moral 
about equally combined. So there are many kinds and combina- 
tions of beauty, just as there are many kinds and combinations 
of colors. There are likewise many different tastes in regard to 
beauty. What one person admires another does not. So in regard 
to colors; some like red, some blue, some green, some violet, and 
so on. As a rule, people like colors according to their passions or 
sentiments, and they appreciate and are fascinated by that kind of 
beauty which is a reflex of their own mind or soul. 

It is an old saying that beauty is only skin-keep. I do not con- 
sider that true beauty in which the moral and social faculties do 



30 SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 

not lend their molding influence. Snakes have pretty skins, but 
we shudder at the very sight of them. A pretty face, therefore, 
that, on close inspection, reveals deceit, cunning, or any kind of 
wickedness, cannot be called beautiful. Addison has justly said 
that no woman can be handsome by the force of features alone, 
any more than she can be witty by the help of speech only. It is 
by the force of thought that the expression of virtue or vice is writ- 
ten upon the countenance, and the features improved or degraded. 
Beauty of mind and beautiful features are therefore inseparably 
connected; for as a man thinketh so he will appear, and his face 
will be a mirror in which a skilled physiognomist can discern the 
ruling passions of the soul. 

Be careful as to how far you trust or place confidence in persons 
who are very forward and bold, especially if they are anxious to pry 
into your secrets and private affairs. They are apt to be thievish 
or tainted with immorality. Loud talkers are also subjects of sus- 
picion, as far as their morals are concerned. Small secretiveness and 
an emotional nature will naturally incline a person to speak louder 
than one possessing large secretiveness and a cool disposition. 
But the class I particularly refer to are persons who always aim to 
attract the attention of every person in the room, or on a steamboat 
or railway car, on the streets and other public places, by talking loud 
enough to be heard above everybody else. When a woman does 
it you may know she is either vain and crazy to be taken notice of, 
and be the center of observation, or else she is fast; rest assured 
either modesty or virtue are wanting in such a woman. And when 
a man does it you may at once conclude he has more gab than 
sense, more blow and brag about him than genuine talent. Young 
women who snicker and laugh out loud at theaters or any public 
place of entertainment, and bore men to take them to such places, 
arc, as a rule, bold, cheeky, saucy, impudent and immodest in their 
behavior; and the less young men have to do with such girls or 
women the better for them financially as well as morally. 

There is great necessity of being guarded and cautious in read- 
ing persons from mere appearance, or their assumed, affected and 
dignified mode of conversation and actions. Persons that are reti- 
cent, reserved, evasive and mysterious in their ways of acting and 
general conduct, are subjects of suspicion, and are to be mistrusted 
more than those who are just the opposite. 




The Celestial or Baby nose; mild, 
docile and amiable disposition; likewise 
indicative of female character. The op- 
posite of the Jewish or Roman nose. 
Observe its concave shape. 



The Jewish nose; commercial, trad- 
ing, speculating; love of money, property, 
etc. Slow to act, suspicious and reserved. 
Observe the width of the lower part of the 
nose, where it joins the nostril; also the 
convex outline. 




A well formed nose, indicating strength and development of character; long-headed. 
Observe the sign of originality, as seen in the drooping septum. It renders a person 
rather odd, and unlike any one else in their way of saying and doing things. Are partic- 
ularly interested in anything new — new theories, plans, sciences, etc. Quite reformatory 
in character. 



SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 3 1 

When men and women get drunk and quarrelsome they show 
and act out their real animal natures — that is, whatever animal, 
fish, bird or reptile a person resembles in his disposition, he will 
show to perfection when intoxicated or enraged. If he has a low, 
vicious, mean or savage nature, he will manifest it; or if he resem- 
bles an animal or reptile of that nature, he will act like the brute he 
takes after. If a man has a mild, docile and harmless nature, like 
a sheep, deer or dove, for instance, he will never hurt anybody or 
be quarrelsome, whether drunk or angry. 

Beautiful eyes, having finely arched and dark eyebrows, are not' 
common in men, and they indicate, in the man who is fortunate 
enough to be so divinely blest, a genuine, natural-born artist — one 
who has the soul to appreciate that which is beautiful and lovely. 
In woman they denote a love and desire for pleasure, beauty and 
the opposite sex, combined very often with a good deal of deviltry. 
The characteristics of this eye may likewise be found the same in 
both sexes. Wherever a lovely eye is seen, whether in man, woman 
or beast, there you will find some admirable trait of character; and 
wherever a mean-looking eye is to be seen, rest assured there is a 
mean disposition of some kind behind it. 

A person with large, round, full and projecting eyes, that in 
appearance resemble those of an owl or a cat, has a disposition that 
is either timid, stupid, foolish, double-dealing or two-faced, and 
generally acts as though he were half-frightened, half-scared and 
afraid of you. 

Excessive passion or abuse of the sexual organs shows itself in 
and around the eyes — gives a sort of dull, heavy, striking and 
sometimes fascinating look. When the lips have a deep red, almost 
crimson color, it indicates immorality or a strong passional nature, 
one that is liable to yield to temptation. 

Laxity of the passions causes the lips to separate, open, and 
imparts to the lower lip a drooping, hanging appearance; while self- 
control and stringency cause them to close and present a tight, com- 
pressed appearance. When both conditions are equal — that is, the 
passions strong, but under control, the lips will have a full, curving, 
but closed and natural appearance, neither open nor compressed. 

Pain is objectionable, though not injurious; pleasure is agreeable, 
hence the love of it, like money, knows no bounds, and has a tendency 



32 SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 

to lead one into excess. Therefore, those most fond of pleasure 
are in the greatest danger of being led astray and finally ruined. 

The more people develop their selfish natures the more they 
cramp their souls and the smaller they become; on the same prin- 
ciple that women cramp their waists by tight lacing, injuring their 
health and spoiling the natural shape of their bodies. Thus selfish- 
ness injures the character of the soul and mars its facial expression, 
whereas generosity expands the soul and makes it beautiful. 

Excess of reason and calculation may lead a man to stinginess, 
avarice or extreme economy, especially if the lips are thin and cau- 
tiousness large. 

In men of genius the convolutions of the brain are deeper than 
in persons of ordinary talent; hence there is a greater amount and 
surface of neurine or gray matter, which is the thinking part of the 
brain, and is indicated by the uneven or hilly appearance of the 
skull. In sluggish persons, and those of common minds, the skull 
is much smoother. 

Sharp, bony knuckles, indicate persons who are fond of physical 
exercise, hence are good walkers and workers; but fleshy hands, 
that scarcely show any knuckles, belong to lazy persons, and if the 
flesh is soft and flabby, they are simply useless individuals in the 
world — almost too lazy to exist. They prefer to sit down and 
take things easy, or ride everywhere they want to go, and are per- 
fectly contented in doing nothing, except to eat, drink, sleep and 
lie around the house. 

A person of taste and refinement may be known by fine, soft 
and neat hair, while a dirty, slovenly person, will have coarse hair 
and an untidy, slouchy appearance of the whole head. The fine 
hair of the rabbit, in contrast with that of the hog, will serve as an 
illustration. 

With the nervous temperament excessive, the affections are 
often inconstant, fictitious and sickly rather than firm, hearty and 
real, and the judgment not trustworthy. There is, also, a great 
desire for novelty and change, with a ready capacity to learn and 
forget, and extreme or abnormal sensitiveness. 

Goethe says nothing is more significant of a man's character than 
what he finds laughable, and I may add, also, the kind of laugh. 
Rowdies may be known by their laugh on the street as far as they 
can be heard. Wise men and fools do not laugh alike, nor do 



SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 33 

rough, ignorant people laugh the same as the refined and intelli- 
gent. There is the suppressed, secretive laugh, in contrast to the 
loud and open. The giggling laugh, and the hearty, whole-souled 
laugh, are easily distinguished and recognized by observation and 
attention. There are few things more depressing to the mind and 
injurious to the body than grief, fretting and turning one's self into 
a sort of living sepulchre; and nothing more healthful than hearty, 
whole-souled laughter and a cheerful, contented mind. 

There is a time to laugh, however, and a time when it is im- 
proper. There are things worth laughing at, and things that are 
not. Sensible, intelligent people do not laugh unless they see or 
hear something worth laughing at; but silly, nonsensical people 
laugh at things that are not worth noticing — laugh when they 
should not, when there is nothing to laugh at, and even on sacred 
or serious occasions. 

Dimples in the cheek indicate a good-natured, lovable and 
merry disposition, fond of being petted, and susceptible to the 
charms of music. They are found only in round and full forms and 
with blonde or light complexions, not in the dark and angular faces. 
When seen in the chin, they are said to indicate a desire to be 
loved, love of society and a warm nature. 

Sagacity is indicated by a short, round neck, which seems set 
in the shoulders, as Dr. Simms, the physiognomist, justly observes. 
Napoleon Bonaparte, General Grant and D. L. Moody, the evangel- 
ist, are good illustrations. 

On general principles, large-boned people are more honest, solid 
and reliable than small-boned persons, and have more enduring 
constitutions and stronger characters, — like Lincoln, Jackson and 
the Duke of Wellington, the first and last being made up of 
more bone than any other material. The most useful animals to 
man, such as the horse, ox and camel, are large-boned, and have 
wonderful physical endurance; whereas some of the most useless 
and deceptive animals have small bones, though plenty of muscle, 
such as the fox, skunk, porcupine, panther, and animals of the cat 
tribe. Small-boned people, however, have more of the warm and 
social nature and are inclined more to music. 

All savage and destructive animals have heads formed on the 
broad and flat, or round principle, such as lions, tigers, leopards and 
rattlesnakes. All timid, docile and inoffensive animals have narrow 



34 SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 

heads between the ears, an J are generally long-faced, like the horse, 
deer, hare and rabbit. So men, as a rule, with wide heads from ear 
to ear, have more force, management and executive ability than 
men with thin heads. If the head is very broad and deficient in 
moral and intellectual faculties, then the possessor of such a head 
may, on provocation, become rough and brutal in his treatment of 
animals or other persons. But when a wide head is well balanced 
with the intellectual and moral organs, you have talent, worth and 
power combined. A person with such a head will try and develop, 
put into execution or carry out any new or general idea he may 
have — in other words, thoughts become actions. Hence, force, 
energy, policy, push, management and business ability or tact is 
generally found in such heads, though a man may have large energy, 
will-power, enterprise, ambition and business ability, where the 
head is long and of only natural width, as also a man with a wide 
head may be so constituted as to lack executive ability; the reader 
must take observations in order to discriminate for himself. 

There are three distinct forms of faces in the Caucasian race: 
the round, oblong, and pyriform or egg shape; each form having a 
character peculiar to itself. With the round, plump face we find 
contentment, ease, pleasing natures, willing to accommodate them- 
selves to others; they are yielding, pliable and easily pleased. Oblong 
form — strength of character, power, greatness, success, clear judg- 
ment and business talent. Pyriform — sensitive, brilliant, intense; 
inclined to be fickle or changeable, imaginative, quick, sharp and 
keen rather than powerful. 

Whenever a man aspires and claims to know or do something, 
or advocates any new truths or doctrines that are not fashionable 
or popular to the public mind, their prejudice will at once be 
aroused, and they will denounce him as a quack or humbug. On 
the same principle, when an individual assumes to know more on a 
given subject, and attempts or offers to give instruction to a con- 
ceited person, he will turn up his nose, despise and reject not only 
the information, however valuable it may be, but also the individual, 
and most likely, if in his power, hold the person up to ridicule and 
scorn, or when the opportunity is afforded, make all sorts of fun out 
of the subject and person. Such is generally the course of action 
uunucti by neonle (of whom there are not a few) who are altogether 
too wise in theii <?^d cen«.*-- v 





The turned-up nose. Pert; quick to 
feel, think and act. Easily offended over 
trivial things. Not much force of charac- 
ter. If the point is sharp, have a scolding 
disposition and fiery temper. 



The Roman nose; generalship, long, 
headed, far-seeing; combative; great force 
of mind; argumentative, opposing, resist- 
ing, conquering and subduing. Observe 
the convea shape, which is always indica- 
tive of a combative spirit in some form. 




The peculiarity of this nose is that it all seems to be crowded down to the point. It 
projects far out from the lip, but does not turn up or down. It is an uncommon nose; 
and after considerable study, I noticed and concluded that it belonged only to persons 
having a cleai", natural insight into business affairs, being able to see what will pay, and 
make it a success, imparting what I propose to call business scent, for such a man can 
smell business as easily as a dog can smell and trace his master. 





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SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 35 

A suspicious nature is generally found with a long, hooking 
nose and large human nature, a faculty located in the center and 
top of the forehead. If large secretiveness be added, you may be 
sure to find suspicion with such a nose. Such persons suspect, 
surmise or imagine the existence of something without any reason 
for so doing. Suspicion, therefore, is the opposite of faith, the 
nature of which is to believe a thing without evidence. Jealousy, 
the mind's toothache, that gnawing worm that eats out the happi- 
ness of thousands, arises from a mixture of suspicion and a desire 
to be loved. The latter condition being indicated by the indented 
or dimpled chin. Many husbands and wives keep themselves and 
their companions in a state of mental torture through their un- 
founded and cruel suspicions. 

Revenge, or retaliation, will generally be found in persons hav- 
ing a hollow in the center of the forehead; also in dark races, or 
individuals of dark hair and complexion. The dark races are cer- 
tainly more inclined to revenge than the light. An implacable 
disposition may be read in the protruding under lip. 

A strong social nature is shown in open, protruding, red lips, 
especially when the cheeks are full, the abdomen large, and the eyes 
bright, large and expressive. The individual may be quite sociable 
without all these conditions, but rest assured where you see small 
eyes and compressed and thin lips you will find a lack of real social 
nature, that kind of nature' that is spontaneous, warm and demon- 
strative. You must make a distinction between a friendly, sympa- 
thetic nature, that can be warmed up on certain occasions, and 
manifest friendship toward those they become thoroughly ac- 
quainted with, and that Christ-like, outgoing nature that has a 
kind word and hearty shake of the hand for the stranger as well as 
the friend. Cats and dogs are sociable when they become ac- 
quainted, and human beings ought to be a step in advance, a de- 
gree above animals, and be sociable without friendship acquaint- 
ance. 

The largest and most active organ or organs of the brain will 
determine the general tone or character of conversation. Thus, if 
approbativeness is the ruling faculty, the social conversation of 
those possessing it will be chiefly about themselves, their own busi- 
ness and social affairs, or those relatives, friends and acquaintances 
they may feel it to be a credit or benefit to themselves to speak of. 



$6 SIGNS OF CHARACTER. 

If amativeness and conjugality are the largest they will talk much 
about the opposite sex, courtship, marriage and love affairs in all 
their various phases. What people think about the most, they 
like to talk about when they have the opportunity. If they are 
intelligent they will talk intellectually. If really pious they will 
love to talk on religious subjects. If very social they will talk 
about social topics. If wicked and licentious they will say wicked 
things, and their conversation will be too dirty, filthy and foul to 
listen to. I have known even Christian men to tell some of the 
most licentious and corrupting stories I ever heard. Who can cal- 
culate the number of young minds that are poisoned and may be 
ruined by evil communications? One smutty story will do mere 
harm than a dozen sermons will do good, and will cling to the 
memory longer than anything that is good. Men are punished for 
writing, publishing and selling obscene literature; and ought not 
any man or woman to be arrested and punished in some way for 
giving vent to vile ideas in verbal language? Men who curse and 
swear, and write smut on the walls and doors of public and private 
places should be severely punished; it is degrading to the lowest 
degree, and springs from a corrupt mind. The perverted condition 
of the love propensity is the cause of all moral filth, swearing in- 
cluded. 

Although much has been done to enable us to perceive the 
character and disposition of the mind from external signs in the 
body, there is need of other discoveries. The same faculties mani- 
fest themselves in various ways in different persons. It is the 
education of the faculties, or lack of it, that makes up the diversity 
of their manifestations as much or more than the faculties them- 
selves. Hence the phrenologist, before he can be perfect, must 
discover a method by which he can determine or read in what 
manner and under what influence each faculty has been developed. 
I believe that these conditions, and the peculiar disposition of each 
person imparted by the animal propensities (or the organs lying 
at the base and interior of the brain), must be observed from the 
expression of the countenance. 

Persons with a long spine will be found somewhat repulsive in 
character. Serpents have long spines and are repulsive. 




Common, vulgar, lack of refinement, and neither voluptuous nor affectionate. 
The aesthetical nature deficient. 





Cold as an iceberg. Stiff, set, precise; 
considerable self-control, but not much 
affection. Observe the thinness of the 
lower lip, also a lack of curvature and 
fullness in the middle, so essential as the 
sign of an affectionate and sociable dis- 
position. 



The perfect mouth. Love for that 
which is beautiful and tasty. Indicative 
of a whole-souled and generous nature. 
Good disposition, strong affection; desire 
for caressing and kissing. The affections 
both active and passive. A sociable and 
warm nature. 



Showing the under lip protruding beyond the upper. The fullness of the lower lip 
represents strong, active affections; but its protruding condition signifies a tendency in the 
disposition of such persons to draw others to them, to cause them to succumb to their 
terms, desires and requirements; a kind of holding back on their part, keeping in reserve; 
though, at the same time, aggressive in spirit. 



EXPRESSION. 



How it is caused or produced — Perfection of Character— What the Organic Quality does — 
Lines and Expression around the Mouth — Fine Features — What gives the Eyes 
their individual and peculiar look — Fascinating Power of the Eye — What Persons 
notice most in others — What the Face, as a whole, reveals — Language of the Chin 
— Formation of the Jaws in relation to Will Power — The Mouth, the Nose, the 
Eyes— Meaning of the words Mind, Spirit and Soul — What the Eyes express — 
Black Eyes — Light Eyes — Round Eyes — Flat Eyes — What the Hair indicates— The 
different Colors and Quality — A properly developed Character — How to Think right 
— The Lips, and what they indicate — Signs of Character in the Walk — Restless, 
craving, passionate Natures — Gum-chewing Women. 



It is the exercise of the faculties that gives expression to the 
face; and as no two persons have exactly a corresponding combina- 
tion of faculties and temperaments, so there are no two persons pos- 
sessing the same look, appearance or likeness. Each faculty stamps 
its own peculiar language upon the countenance. A dormant 
faculty makes little or no impression upon the face. It leaves a 
vacancy; the language of that faculty is not there. Active benev- 
olence gives a beaming, urbane look; agreeableness imparts a win- 
ning, pleasing look; amativeness, a fascinating look, but if perverted, 
a lascivious, tempting and wicked look; resistance and firmness, a 
set, stern look; language, an expressive appearance around the eye; 
ideality, a beautiful look; self-esteem, a dignified look; causality, a 
thoughtful look; and so on. The larger and more active the faculty, 
the more marked will be its character upon the face. But it is the 
combination of all the faculties that gives the identical, definite look 
to each individual. Hence, the secret of reading a person by the 
face is in the ability to discern, by mere expression, what faculties 
or qualities of mind are pictured on the countenance, and to dis- 
cover whether they are used in a proper direction or in a perverted 
manner. We are attracted or repelled according to the language 
of the faculties we most admire; and I suppose we like to see in 
others the same qualities of mind we possess ourselves. Is not this 
the theory and secret of love? 



38 EXPRESSION. 

Perfection of character depends on the perfection and harmonious 
development of all the organs of the mind and body. They must 
all be of equal size and strength. The temperaments and the or- 
ganic quality must also be equally combined. 

The greater any given organ or faculty, the greater will be its 
power, its capacity of enjoyment, and the more will it require to 
receive satisfaction. 

It is the organic quality that gives tone, grade and value to one's 
character, talents, feelings and thoughts. If that condition is large, 
the whole nature, physical and mental, is of a high type and stand- 
ard; but if deficient, then it is altogether low and common, and the 
mind is more of an animal and earthly nature, no matter what may 
be the size of the organs. The faculty of conscientiousness cannot 
be relied upon, as it may be led by the selfish propensities and animal 
desires. Mirthfulness, with such an organization, would manifest 
itself in foolish jesting, and, if destructiveness was also prominent, 
would delight in tormenting other persons or dumb animals, just 
for fun; but in a higher nature, mirthfulness would be intelligent 
wit. Amativeness and conjugality, with a high and finely-developed 
organism, would be pure, true, exalted and spiritual love; but with 
the opposite condition, would be common, tending to a mere animal 
feeling, even if moral --and if not moral, would be low, base and 
degrading in its influence; and so with all the faculties of the 
human mind. In observing character, therefore, the organic quality 
is the first thing to be observed, as that is the foundation upon 
which the whole man is built, and the key that unlocks the entire 
character. 

The lines and expression around the mouth betray and reveal 
the state of the heart, as to whether it is good-natured, mean, sar- 
castic, sensual, refined, peaceful, happy, disappointed, sour, etc. 

The finer the features, the smoother and more delicate the hair, 
and, also, the same condition of the mind and feelings. A rough 
face, a rough mind or character. There are different kinds of rough- 
ness, however; the reader must learn to distinguish between that 
kind of roughness which indicates power or strength, and that 
which reveals simply a coarse or low mind. One thing necessary 
in reading character is the ability to discern the size and relative 
proportions of all the faculties, and to tell the kind of feeling and 
talent different combinations of faculties will produce— just the 




The upper lip is projecting over the under lip. Such mouths represent a disposition 
in their owners to impress themselves strongly upon others; are advancing in manner and 
behavior, and have generally considerable conceit, egotism or vanity. 




Immodest, indelicate, fond of a gay and fast life, luxurious living; high glee. 




Sportive, somewhat cynical; passive affection denoted in 
the lower lip. Liable to be fast. 




Mirthful and slightly sarcastic; upper lip too thin in proportion to the lower, hence 
the affections are not well balanced. May receive caresses or kisses, but care little about 
giving them. Turned up corners indicate a laughing disposition. 



EXPRESSION. 39 

same as an artist can tell what color a combination of other colors 
will produce; or the chemist what will be the effect of a mixture of 
different chemicals, or of the same colors and chemicals in different 
proportions. 

The round, smooth, baby-looking faces have not the force and 
strength of character that the rough, angular and uneven face has; 
and when the lines are deep and the features or prominences of the 
face strongly marked, you may expect to find originality of thought 
and profundity of mind, with distinguished character of some kind; 
but in the smooth, unwrinkled face, look out for a feeble mind. By 
feeble I do not mean idiotic, but rather weak, lacking depth and 
power. There are a great many baby-looking faces in the world, 
and such persons rarely amount to anything beyond a common- 
place life and character — are too fickle and childish in their tastes 
and sentiments. 

In the mental process of reading a person, we first perceive the 
expression, and from that conceive the character. Perception 
arises from the action of the perceptive faculties, located immedi- 
ately over the eyes and nose; conception, from the reflective facul- 
ties, located in the upper part of the forehead. In the central part 
of the forehead are located most of the literary faculties. 

It is the largest and most predominating trait of character that 
gives to the eyes their peculiar look — that expressive cast, that 
which we most notice and are influenced by; hence, the expression 
of the eye changes as fast as our thoughts change and the different 
faculties are brought into action. The eyes, therefore, become a 
mirror in which are pictured, as they come and go, all the thoughts, 
feelings, emotions and passions of the soul. How easy it is to see 
the presence of anger, joy, sadness ! So, in like manner, if we study 
until we become familiar with the different kinds of expression, we 
can observe the language of every change and condition of the mind. 

What a magnetic or fascinating appearance is imparted to the 
eye when lit up by active amativeness, agreeableness and approba- 
tiveness! Secretiveness and mirthfulness are likewise conspicu- 
ously manifested in the eye. 

Whatever persons notice most in others clearly indicates the 
ruling trait of character in themselves. If they notice dress in 
preference to anything else, then dress is their chief desire. If 
words and actions are criticised, then it is character and quality of 



40 EXPRESSION. 

mind that is predominant in the observer. Artists notice features, 
expressions and beauty; fashionable and amative persons notice 
the style and physique of individuals, and so on; each one trying 
to find in others what is a reflex of his own mind. 

The face, as a whole, with its accompanying expression, reveals 
one's nature and animal propensities. It likewise shows whether 
the faculties are active or passive, while the Head shows their size 
and proportion to each other. Every feature of the face has its 
appropriate manifestation. The forehead portrays the amount of 
intellect. The chin tells us how much virility, ardor, intensity and 
the kind of affectionate desire one possesses. The mouth shows 
how much affection one has — whether friendly, sociable, warm- 
hearted or the reverse. The nose represents .the selfish traits and 
propensities — those qualities of mind that make men bold, fearless, 
aggressive, far-seeing, defensive, determined and accumulative. 
But the eyes — those two magnetic stars — what do they mean? 
That is a question, reader, easier asked than answered. There seems 
to be a mystery about the eyes which has never yet been explained. 
What a depth of meaning, what a mine, what a store-house, in 
which seem to be deposited things good and bad! How anxiously 
we look into them and try to discover what is behind! If we 
could only read the thoughts they convey! And what a mental 
effort we sometimes make to do so ! But, after all, we have to give 
it up; they are too much like a policeman's lantern — the longer we 
look, the more blinded and confused we become. To see through 
a thing and discover what is behind, is not so easy as to get behind 
and see what is ahead. 

Two things, however, are evident: First, all eyes are not alike; 
second, they do not affect us in the same manner nor exercise the 
same power over us, neither do any two individuals. I therefore 
conclude that the eyes reveal (or are an index of) the kind, quality 
and nature of the mind, spirit and soul. These three words are 
sometimes used to express one and the same thing, yet each word 
has its peculiar, specific meaning. 

Mind is used to designate the intellect or understanding — the 
mental process of thinking, willing and choosing; also, inclination, 
desire, intent, purpose. Mind may likewise be termed the opera- 
tion of the spirit upon the faculties, bringing them into activity. 

The word spirit means life, ardor, vivacity; great activity or 



EXPRESSION. 41 

peculiar characteristics of mind and temper; disposition of mind, 
intellectual or moral state, cheerfulness, enterprise. It may also be 
used to indicate the highest principle in man. 

By soul, we mean any noble manifestation of the heart or moral 
nature; the seat of life and action; the rational and emotional part 
of man's nature. Of course, these definitions are intended to rep- 
resent the spirit as connected with the body. In my chapter on 
Modern Christianity, I shall give a new and more thorough descrip- 
tion of the differences between mind, spirit and soul. 

From the above definitions, I presume it will be clear to the 
reader what is meant by the mind, spirit, soul, or whatever you 
choose to name that part of man manifested in the eye. And here 
let me say that the quality or nature of the soul, as to whether it is 
pure and exalted, or gross and low, can be determined by the 
organic quality. 

The eyes, therefore, express every emotion of the soul, the 
quality of the soul and its present moral condition. They seem to 
be the window through which every faculty peeps out. Eyes differ 
in color, form, size and rapidity of motion. 

Black eyes are deep as the ocean, artful, crafty, treacherous, re- 
vengeful — a smoldering fire that may burst into a full blaze at a 
moment's notice. They are generally retiring and reserved, and 
sometimes full of deviltry. The ways of a wicked person with 
black eyes are past finding out. So much for the bad qualities. 
The good qualities belonging to black or dark eyes are frankness, a 
confiding disposition, affection, plain-speaking, truthfulness, and a 
good degree of power, determination and force of character. Many 
black eyes are beautiful, magnetic in their effect, and indicative of 
a true, noble character. But, reader, never trifle with such, nor play 
any mean tricks with them, or they may take fearful revenge; you 
can go just so far, but no farther; and once aroused, they give no 
quarter and know no such thing as mercy. I remember a small, 
handsome-looking woman, with large, black eyes, who put on con- 
siderable style, and presented the appearance of a delicate, lady-like 
woman. Those black full moons of hers had captivated four or five 
young men, to whom she had promised her hand in marriage. One 
of them did not exactly like that kind of fun, and so followed her up, 
causing her to apprehend danger. While talking with her upon 
the subject, she declared if he came near her she would shoot him. 



42 EXPRESSION. 

I replied, she certainly would not have the courage to shoot a man, 
when she coolly walked over to her bureau and took out a pistol, 
remarking, in an emphatic manner, "Wouldn't I?" I concluded 
she would. Another black-eyed woman told me that if she ever 
found out her husband was not true to her, she would certainly 
shoot him. 

Small, flat, light eyes are cunning, evasive, sly, manceuvering, 
deceitful; apt to lie, cheat, and with" acquisitiveness, steal. Their 
deceitfulness is different from that of black eyes. Light eyes resort 
to a good deal of device, contrivance and stratagem. They are full 
of tactics, policy and management, and can keep things to them- 
selves, with little or no desire to impart them to others, unless it is 
something that weighs terribly upon the mind. Black eyes are not 
good at keeping secrets. They may, through conscientiousness or 
friendship, keep things committed to them as a secret trust; but 
should enmity ever arise, they may betray you. 

Light eyes would not speak a thing right out, but work to your 
disadvantage in an underhanded way —at the same time pretending 
probably to be your friend, and making themselves quite agreeable; 
but the black eye would come right out, declare war and open fire. 
Light-eyed enemies are snakes in the grass; black-eyed ones will 
show their enmity, and fight in the open field, though they may 
have a very treacherous way of doing it — something like the Indian, 
for instance. The fact that Indians fight behind trees as much as 
possible, or some other defensive place, is because that is their mode 
of life and warfare, and their only means of protection against a 
trained and armed military company. What I wish Lo impress 
upon the reader is, that they do not conceal their feelings, and pre- 
tend to be friendly when they are not. Light eyes conceal their 
character, their feelings, emotions, intentions and purposes, and, 
though they may hate and despise a person, will seldom manifest 
it unless in some manner compelled to do so. There are, however, 
many amiable, devoted women among this class, as well as men, 
having strong, silent love, with tenderness and sympathy. The 
conditions peculiar to both kinds of eyes are all right if governed 
by the intellect and moral faculties; but, when perverted, then look 
out for their evil manifestations, as already described. In the full, 
open blue eye, you may expect to find a mild and good character. 

The more round the eye, the easier will it receive impressions, 



Ascerbity, moroseness; crusty, stringent, self-important; not easily imposed upon. 
Lack sociability and affection. Have much self-control, and not inclined to dissipation. 
Observe the lips are thin and compressed. Generally very economical, or stingy and 
mean. 




Dissatisfaction; sour; over-particular; more nice than wise. Poor lips for 
kissing, and the form scarcely human. 




Coarseness; common mind; the affections more passive ;han 
active; given to sensual thoughts. 



Sedate, serious turn of mind; lack of mirthfulness; deficient in character; common, 

mean, with a little vanity; sarcastic. Mouths that droop 

at the corners never laugh much. 



EXPRESSION. 43 

observe and gather ideas; and the sooner, also, will such impres- 
sions be lost or forgotten. The narrower the eye, the slower will 
it be in gathering facts, receiving ideas, or coming to a conclusion; 
but its possessor will retain knowledge much longer after it is 
acquired, and such persons are slower but more deliberate in judg- 
ment. Small eyes, especially in children, are dull and slow to learn ; 
while large are quick to perceive, full of life and vivacity. The 
brighter the eye, the more will the individual resemble his or her 
mother. Eyes that are slow to move, are slow in thought and act; 
while eyes that move rapidly belong to minds that are wide-awake 
and quick as lightning. 

The hair indicates fineness or coarseness of temperament and 
feeling, also tone and strength of character and constitution. 
Auburn hair denotes quick susceptibilities. Black hair is accom- 
panied with the bilious temperament, which gives power, strength 
and endurance. Light hair means delicacy, fineness and lighter 
tone of character — almost the opposite of black hair. Red hair 
belongs to the sanguine temperament, gives intense feelings, and a 
fiery, ardent, hot-blooded and passionate nature. If curly, eiiO- 
tional and impulsive. Straight hair denotes mildness or tameness 
of nature. 

Red-haired persons should pursue out-door employment, as they 
need al' the pure air they can get. Fine, light-haired persons can 
pursue . ny light or in-door business, but are not adapted for heavy 
work. Dark-haired persons can endure a considerable amount of 
labor of almost if v kind. The coarser the hair, the more so the 
individual in thought, feeling and manner, and vice versa. 

Men of properly developed and prominent character are so 
marked in their appearance, that, once seen, they can be easily 
recognized anywhere; whereas common-place persons are more 
difficult to distinguish and remember. 

He who does not vary the intonation of the voice in speaking 
lacks self-control. There is a vast difference in the voice of per- 
sons, and a wonderful amount of character is revealed in its tones. 
We can distinguish an adult from a child, and a male from a female, 
simply by the voice. I shall never forget a lady I heard trying to 
awaken her sleeping husband, one morning, in a room adjoining 
mine. There was so much tenderness, sweetness and music in her 
voice, that the tones seem to be fixed in my memory. The voice 



44 EXPRESSION. 

needs cultivation, as well as the muscles, and organs of the brain. 
The development of character will modify the voice, and the study 
of vocal music and elocution will improve it. 

Men cannot think and act rightly on any subject, or have clear 
and proper ideas, unless all their faculties are brought into active 
and equal use. 

It is the mental, passional and emotional temperaments com- 
bined, that give energy, go-aheadativeness, impulsiveness and in- 
tensity of feeling and action. They cause a person to throw the 
whole soul into whatever is to be done, especially in speaking, 
acting or writing. 

A person with a healthy and equally-balanced condition of 
faculties and vital organs attracts (or causes people, things and 
circumstances to succumb or place themselves under his influence 
or at his command) without any special effort; while an individual 
having an organization which is the reverse, could not, with special 
effort, secure the same results and power. 

When the lips have a pure, fresh, cherry-red appearance, the 
blood is in the same condition, and the health good; but if they 
look dry, scabby, blue and sickly, the blood is in a very bad state. 

Lips that are full and red, having a cushioned appearance, indi- 
cate a strong social nature, or a great amount of affection, and fond- 
ness for caressing and kissing. When the red part of both lips is 
fully and evenly developed, that is, tolerably thick and well rounded 
out, the affections will be more harmonious and evenly developed, 
and the person will love to kiss and be kissed; but if the lower lip 
only is full, and the upper lip comparatively thin, the individual may 
enjoy and submit to being kissed, especially if a lady, but care little 
about kissing others (babies excepted). 

Lips that are thin and compressed are wanting in affection, and 
indicate their possessor to be cold-hearted, deficient in sociability, 
and stringent, but having much self-control. 

Lips that are naturally open, exposing the upper teeth, may mean 
laxity of the passions, or a desire to be praised, or both. 

Be on your guard with the individual whose mouth has a dis- 
gusting appearance, a sarcastic expression, objectionable lines 
around it, or one corner drawn up more than the other, unless 
by injury. 





The dreamy eye. Full of pleasure and 
animal enjoyment; but good-natured and 
thoughtful. Can love more than ens. 



Submissive, mild, discerning, penetrat- 
ing, and clear perception, but rather 
coquettish. 




The wanton eye. Inclined to desire and submit to licentious gratification. Lack of 
resistance to obstacles or opposing circumstances. Deficient in force of character and 
controlling influence. Observe the flatness of the eye and the distance between the eye- 
lid and eyebrow. 





The monogamic eye. Wide-awake, 
eager, active, very susceptible to sur- 
rounding impressions. Readily observe. 
Such eyes generally have much feminine 
expression in them. 



Expressive, speaking eye when ani- 
mated. Large language. Studious, in- 
quiring and watchful; but artful, mean, 
trickish and treacherous. The color is 
almost or quite black. 



EXPRESSION. 45 

A very large mouth denotes animalism, coarseness or vulgarity; 
a straight mouth, a common or undeveloped character — nothing of 
the beautiful and artistic. Large mouths, however, are essential to 
good speakers, giving flexibility, so that they can express them- 
selves easily. 

With the large mouth we frequently find strength of character 
and talent; whereas, in the small mouth, there is generally over- 
much modesty and shallow sentiment; are apt to carry their civil- 
ized ideas of nicety and delicacy too far; seem to live in their minds 
more than in their bodies. Some one has said that a "blue and thin- 
lipped woman will bore you to death with literature or woman's 
rights theories, while you want your dinner, or spoil your temper 
by their red-hot, scolding tongues;" but that will depend somewhat 
on other combinations: if she has a masculine temperament, such 
may be the case, because there would not be much congeniality 
in her nature. If the mouth is coarse as well as large, there will 
either be much sensuality or strong, coarse points of character that 
will render life with such a person anything but pleasant. 

There is considerable character manifested in the chin, as it in- 
dicates the force and strength of the mind in connection with the 
nature and peculiarities of the affections. The connection between 
the Latin word mentum for chin, and mens for mind, is certainly 
suggestive, especially as mindless animals have no chin. Search 
the entire animal kingdom and you cannot find a perfect or well- 
formed chin as seen in the human family; and, though animals un- 
doubtedly have understanding and a certain amount or kind of 
reason, they evidently have not the power or capacity for compara- 
tive, deductive and logical reasoning. The less chin a person has, 
or the more it recedes toward the neck, the less persistence and 
mind force there is; the more it advances or projects from the level 
of the face, the more persistence and tenacity of mind there will be. 
A sharp, narrow, round, pointed chin belongs to persons of very 
tender but intense affections, who keenly feel the loss of loved 
friends, take things to heart easily, and are possessed of a weak 
heart physically as well as mentally. But in the broad, full chin 
you will find a stronger heart, more vigorous and powerful circula- 
tion of blood, and, therefore, a much stronger and less easily affected 
love nature. The affections are less sensitive and not so easily bro- 
ken or crushed in the broad, round, full chin as they are in the small, 



4-6 EXPRESSION. 

round, pointed chin. In fact there is more vigor and power to the 
affections and will in a large or broad, full, prominent chin than 
there is to a small one, no matter what the shape may be, whether 
round or square at the point. The narrow, round, pointed chin 
means desire for affinity and congeniality; gives much intensity 
of feeling, but less power and consistency. The broad, round, 
pointed chin is perhaps the most perfect form, as it indicates good 
heart power, and strong, constant, enduring love for the object of 
its affections. The narrow, square chin, means a desire to love or 
bestow the affections on some other person. The broad, square 
chin, a more violent, erratic, and powerful state of the affections, 
which needs controlling. In the indented chin there is a longing 
desire on the part of its possessor to be loved, are unhappy unless 
they have the affections of some person; and, when they have not, 
are apt to make love themselves in order to secure a lover, even if 
the individual with such a chin should be a lady. 

A prominent, pointed chin signifies ardor and impulsiveness in 
regard to the affections. A deficient or receding chin denotes a 
lack of virility. 

The lower jaw taken as a whole indicates the various states of 
will power. There seem to be three elements or parts that 
constitute the entire will, viz.: persistence or perseverance, obsti- 
nacy and contrariness. It is possible, however, that the two last 
elements of will may be one and the same thing manifested in a 
different way; nevertheless, we find three conditions of the will 
manifested in three well known animals, and their jaws are all dif- 
ferently formed. First, there is the hog kind of will, shown by the 
width of the jaw in the back part; secondly, the mule and jackass 
will, shown by the drooping of the jaw in the rear part, in contrast 
to the jaw of the horse and other animals the opposite in will power; 
and thirdly, the bulldog will, shown in the long, forward-projecting 
chin, in contrast to that of the wolf. When a bulldog gets hold of 
a person or thing, he means business and persists in hanging on. 
So in human life; we find some people who are persistent and per- 
severing in their efforts to accomplish success or gain an object; 
while others, wolf-like, snap at a. thing and instantly let go; others, 
again, are as headstrong, unyielding and stubborn as any mule or 
jackass, especially when they cannot have their own way. This is a 
good trait of character, however, when properly used and not per- 



EXPRESSION. 47 

verted, as it gives stability and unflinching principle to the character; 
but in domestic and business life it is too frequently used in the 
wrong way. Another class of people are just like, or as contrary and 
perverse as the hog. The moment they discover you want them to 
do a certain thing or pursue a certain course, they are sure to do or 
take the opposite. They seem to delight in thwarting others in 
their plans and purposes. All three conditions of the will can be 
properly and improperly used, and if each person used his will to 
control himself as much as he does others, the world, or the people 
in it, would be a good deal better physically, intellectually and 
morally. 

Many persons think the nose of very little importance in read- 
ing character, but it is just the opposite. It represents masculine 
and feminine qualities more than any other feature — shows how 
much power and force of mind one has, and how much of the com- 
mercial, aggressive and martial spirit — shows whether one is long- 
headed enough to see into a mill-stone, or no farther than the point 
of his nose. It shows whether the character is weak or strong, 
whether the disposition is of a turn-up or turn-down nature. If the 
nose is concave and turned up a little at the point, whenever such 
persons become offended (and such individuals take offense easily) 
they will manifest a sort of turn-up, go-off, get-away, leave-you- 
alone sort of spirit, and act as if they were afraid to have anything 
more to say or do with the offender. Certain animals will act in a 
similar manner. Take pussy, for instance. Do something she does 
not like, and she goes off to another part of the room, and looks at 
you in a half- frightened, suspicious manner, as much as to say, " You 
contemptible thing, what do you mean ? and why do you do that ?" 
For the turned-up nose has likewise an inquisitive disposition; but 
pussy never seeks revenge by making any attack upon you at any 
future time, nor has she just the kind of nose I have been describ- 
ing; nor do human beings with this kind of nose seek retaliation or 
revenge in the future — they are generally contented to leave one 
severely alone. But the convex nose, turning down at the point, 
in eagle fashion, is just the opposite. Do them an injury or an 
imaginary evil, and they will wait for an opportunity to pounce upon 
you like an eagle upon its prey — not physically, perhaps, but in 
some manner they will take the advantage of you; it may be in a 
business transaction, or in the way of an injury to your character. 



48 EXPRESSION. 

The story of the tailor and the elephant somewhat illustrates this 
shade of character. A tailor was in the habit of tormenting an 
elephant by pricking him with his needle. The elephant did not 
resent it at the time, but went away to a pool of the dirtiest water 
he could find, and sucking up all he could carry in his proboscis, 
returned to the tailor and gave him the benefit of a good ducking. 
While examining a person having a nose of this description, I re- 
marked that, if a person took any advantage of him or did him an 
injury, he would try to get even with him some time, if it was fifty 
years afterwards. The subject replied that he would if it were a 
hundred years afterwards. Such persons never forget an injury. 

So significant a feature has the nose been that persons have fre- 
quently been noted and even named from peculiarities of the nose. 
For instance, Cicero was a nick-name; the real name of the great 
Roman orator was Marcus Tullius, to which was added the agnomen, 
Cicero, from the word Cicer, a vetch or kind of chick-pea, on ac- 
count of the shape or some other peculiarity of his nose, or the 
noses of his progenitors. So also the poet Ovid, or Publius Ovidius, 
was called Naso, from his prominent nose. 

Moral courage is indicated by a long nose that stands well out 
from the face in the upper part joining the forehead; also giving a 
wide space between the eye-brows, as seen in the picture of Luther. 
Such persons will stand firm and uphold any moral truth or prin- 
ciple though all the world oppose, and such a character had Luther, 
the great reformer. 

The desire to climb and ascend high places, such as hills, mount- 
ains, towers and steeples, may be known by a nose that stands well 
out from the face in its lower part, and inclines slightly upward at 
the point. The mind of such a person will also have a progressive 
and upward tendency, will desire to rise in the scale of humanity, 
will, in short, be lofty-minded. Especially will the latter be true 
if the individual is endowed with a large amount of the organic 
quality. 

The convex nose also indicates combativeness — the opposing, 
resisting, fighting and energetic spirit. 

When the central part of the nose, where it joins the face, is 
wide, it indicates a commercial spirit, love of money or property, 
and desire to accumulate. When narrow, it means deficiency in 
that respect. When the nose is broad at the wings and sharp at 





Sternness, commanding, ability, au- 
thority, discernment, reflection, resist- 
ance, determination. Observe the pro- 
jecting, overhanging eyebrows. 



Love, modesty, tenderness. Repre- 
sents a character almost perfect as far as 
good, amiable and moral traits are con- 
cerned. 




Sound, mature understanding; full of plans and schemes; shrewd, thoughtful; policy 
and management of human nature; observe the drooping over the eyelid at the outer corner. 
Are apt to lie or evade the truth. 





Quick to perceive, wide-awake; im- 
pressibility; observe rapidly, but do not 
retain impressions long, or think intently. 
Good eyesight. 



The amorous, sensual, talkative and 
unprincipled eye. Apt to lead a fast life. 
Observe the fullness of the under eyelid. 
In the living eye the expression is wicked 
and insinuating. 



EXPRESSION. 49 

the point, there is also a love of money, with a tendency to be close, 
or make by saving and cutting down expenses. When broad at the 
wings and hooked at the point, there is a desire to make money by 
speculation or unfair means. 

The nose that stands well out from the face and of the Grecian 
type, indicates a love of the beautiful, or the aesthetic nature. A 
long nose indicates a long-headed, far-seeing, shrewd, scheming, 
planning mind. Are generally quick to read human nature, and are 
cautious but not always the most reliable or trustworthy. 

Whenever you see a bump or prominence in the center of a per- 
son's nose, you may know they are inclined to argue, combat, resist, 
oppose or defend in some way or other; will also manifest much 
energy in business or any enterprise they may be engaged in. 
When the prominence is high up on the nose, near the frontal sinus 
or forehead, it indicates an aggressive spirit. When it is near the 
point of the nose, it means personal defense, protection of one's 
rights, property and person, and also betrays considerable selfish- 
ness, especially in business affairs. Such a nose will always look 
out for self. 

Where the nostrils are wide open it is a sign of good lung and 
breathing power; when narrow, a deficiency. 

The manner of walking corresponds and harmonizes with the 
habits and disposition. A slouch and a sloven hang out their signs 
as they walk. A man of ambition, energy and hope will walk 
rapidly, briskly and take long steps. 

The man who has much firmness and precision in his character 
will have just that kind of a walk. 

Those who have an easy, graceful walk, will do things in like 
manner; while those who seem to make an effort to walk, work and 
labor as if it were a task. 

Beware of persons who, when viewed from behind, have a sort 
of mean, shuffling, secretive kind of walk. They move along as 
though they were afraid to use their legs. 

Those who step heavily on the heel generally have much solidity 
and firmness of character. Those who walk tip-toe fashion are 
fond of dancing and prone to the sentimental side of life. Those 
who have a springy, up-and-down step, are happy, hopeful natures, 
but apt to be unbalanced mentally; in other words, have rooms to 
rent in the upper story. 



50 EXPRESSION. 

Those who walk very lightly may have a light, mirthful, senti- 
mental kind of character, or possess secretiveness or cautiousness, 
or all combined. 

A* person who is overflowing with conceit, egotism and vanity, 
will not only show it in the face and eyes, but in the dignified, self- 
complacent, pompous, I-don't-care kind of a walk. The head will 
also be erect or slightly elevated. A man who is brim-full of bus- 
iness, walks in a hurried and somewhat excited manner; while one 
.vho has made a fortune and retired, walks along cool, easy, leis- 
urely and indifferent. 

Large self-esteem and firmness will not only cause their possess- 
or to walk erect and stand straight, but also to sit erect, scarcely 
bending the body in any position. Sitting or lounging in a careless 
manner generally denotes deficient self-esteem. 

Carnivorous animals have savage-looking eyes, but the herbiv- 
orous have mild and soft eyes. Contrast the eyes of the lion, tiger 
and hyena with the deer, gazelle, cow and horse. Mild, harmless, 
inoffensive people will have eyes that are mild and soft in expres- 
sion, but stern, severe, cruel and dangerous persons will have hard, 
savage, unkind and somewhat repulsive-looking eyes. 

The difference in the phrenological and physiognomical mani- 
festations of the same faculties is simply this: phrenology, or an 
examination of the head, reveals the latent power, or original 
strength of the faculties, while physiognomy or the expression 
of the face, shows the activity of the faculties and the manner in 
which they have been exercised, or the kind of education they 
have received, whether good or bad. The face, however, is much 
more expressive of feeling than it is of thought, especially that 
part of the face from the eyebrows downward. 

Persons w r ho have a restless, craving, passionate nature, are 
never contented unless witnessing or taking part in something 
exciting, such as gambling, horse-racing, or any of the sporting 
games, attending some sensational play or fashionable ball — will 
indulge in stimulants of some kind, such as wines, liquors and to- 
bacco. A woman who chews gum and has little ambition for any- 
thing else than to dress and attend fashionable, showy places of 
amusement, and visit drinking restaurants, has generally the same 
elements of character; and if she conveniently could, would go 
anywhere and everywhere that a man does. The common habit of 



EXPRESSION. 51 

picking the teeth indicates a sort of craving, uneasy nature, one 
fond of some kind of excitement. The constant practice of many 
in picking their teeth for half an hour after eating, and even be- 
tween meals, and swallowing all of the corrupt matter instead of 
ejecting it, is just about as dirty and irritating a practice as picking 
one's nose. Tooth-picking, gum-chewing, tobacco-chewing, and 
even smoking, are all exciting and injurious habits. No one of 
them beautifv or lend any charm to the face or character. 



BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 



Definition of Blondes and Brunettes — An Intermediate Type — Why Tropical regions pro- 
duce Brunettes, and the Temperate, Blondes — Cause of diversity of Color in the 
Eyes — Blood, and its relation to the Mind — Characteristics of Hazel and Black- 
eyed people — The nature of one's Magnetism modified by the Nature and Color of 
the Blood — Insinuation, two kinds of it applicable to Brunettes — The Reserved 
Nature of Brunettes — The Nature of their Affections — Deficient Character of 
Blondes — The Conscience of Blondes — Their inclination to Sin — Their Cleanliness 
— Cause of Temper — Different kinds of Temper — Red-haired Persons. 



A BLONDE is a person with fair, clear, soft complexion, light 
hair and light eyes. A BRUNETTE has dark hair, eyes and com- 
plexion. The eyes are sometimes very dark, apparently black, with 
seldom any color in the face. 

I should regard the above explanation unnecessary were it not 
for the fact that I once conversed with a lady of affluence, who 
aimed to shine in social and literary circles, who did not know the 
difference between a blonde and a brunette. 

There is another type arising from the predominance of the 
arterial blood, or sanguine temperament, having red hair and a 
highly-colored complexion, which I will describe in this chapter, as 
these three types of character, either singly or in combination, are 
found in most American and European people. 

Blondes sometimes have brown eyes and brunettes light or blue 
— conditions they have inherited from their parents, receiving the 
physical nature of one and the mental of the other; or, it may be 
caused by one parent being a blonde and the other a brunette. 

The majority of people are neither pure blondes, brunettes, nor 
of florid complexion, but a mixture of these two or three types in 
different proportions; so I shall not attempt to describe intermedi- 
ate conditions. 

The natural traits of character peculiar to blondes and brunettes 
are as different and unlike as their complexions are; and the color 
of their faces is a pretty good index to the color or nature of their 




THE BLONDE— AN ACTRESS. 



From a Photograph by Gehrig, of Cliicai, 



I selected this picture to illustrate the mental rather than the physical qualities of 
the American blonde. Physically, blondes are generally more voluptuous in their forms 
than the person represented in the above cut. But the cute, wide-awake, knowing, 
mirthful and somewhat cunning or artful expression, so characteristic of blondes, is here 
well illustrated. One of those smiling, happy, I-do-not-care-in-for-a-good-time sort of 
expressions. 




THE BRUNETTE. 

From a European Photograph. 

The American brunette is generally of spare, lithe form, with large, lustrous, pene- 
trating and fascinating eyes. Some of them, however, are well formed, and quite plump 
and fleshy. Among the Jews this type is predominant; and many of them are very 
beautiful and luxurious in their development. 



BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 53 

minds. And here the question arises, Why do the tropical regions 
produce brunettes, and the temperate or colder climates produce 
blondes ? There have been various theories and reasons given in 
regard to this difference; but I do not think the primary cause has 
ever been explained, and if I should happen to give a reason that 
may appear absurd to the reader, or, in reality, to be erroneous, I 
shall only be doing what many (in fact, most, if not all) philosoph- 
ical and scientific men have done in relation to some of their pet 
theories. 

I assert, in the first place, that there can be no permanent change 
in the color of a living, healthy body, unless produced by the action 
of the mind; and nothing material can act upon the mind except 
through the senses, and by the aid of electricity, or the nervous 
fluid, the connecting link between mind and matter. 

Secondly, mind rules and molds matter, and makes it like unto 
itself. If you ask me how I know that mind molds and rules matter 
instead of matter mind, I answer, that as far as we know, spirit ex- 
isted before matter, the Creator before that which he created; hence, 
I prefer to reason from the metaphysical down to the physical; from 
the immaterial to the material; from the infinite down to the finite, 
in the order of creation and molding power, instead of looking for 
the infinite to emerge from the finite, or the spirit principle from 
the physical. The sun controls and regulates our globe, and not 
our earth the sun. The light, heat and electricity of the sun is 
superior to matter, so, reasoning from analogy, spirit is superior to 
matter, and therefore controls it. The body is the image of the 
mind, as much as man is the image of his Maker. The color and 
condition of the body are, therefore the reflex of the mind. 

Flowers owe their various tints and hues to the light and heat 
of the sun indirectly; and yet every flower preserves its identity 
and appropriate color, clearly showing that it is not the direct action 
of the sun which produces a blackening or bleaching-out process. 
So I believe every human being has a color in harmony with the 
mind, and that the mind, spirit or soul is the primary or direct, while 
external agencies (such as sun and climate) are indirect, agencies 
or causes; and that these indirect causes first act upon the mind, 
and through it upon the body. 

It is the soul that gives color to the eye; therefore black, brown, 
blue, grey and hazel eyes express different conditions and feelings 



54. BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 

of the soul. External impressions, atmospheric conditions and 
changes act upon our nervous system, and through it upon the 
mind, causing us to think, feel and act differently; and as mind, 
through the nervous fluid, acts upon matter, it in turn gradually 
changes our external appearance. If this is not so, why does joy, 
trouble, bereavement, anxiety, and an excess of any passion, stamp 
themselves upon the features ? Why does too much sexual inter- 
course, or abuse of any kind, make the eyes and their surroundings 
look dull, heavy, impure, black or smutty? But, you say, these are 
physiological manifestations. Partially so, but not entirely. Sup- 
pose the mind to be separated from the body, what impression or 
change could be made upon it except by the laws of chemistry, 
which decompose it ? 

The rays of the sun bring two great blessings to humanity — 
light and heat. Some things are peculiarly sensitive to light, others 
to heat. It is the nature of light and heat to change the properties 
and color of anything that is sensitive or capable of receiving im- 
pressions from the rays of the sun. Nitrate of silver, brought in 
contact with organic matter, will change color — that is, turn black 
when exposed to the actinic rays. So the mind, when brought in 
contact with our physical nature, receives impressions from the 
sun, and our feelings and desires change in proportion to the inten- 
sity of the light and heat. And these mental changes are in turn 
impressed upon our bodies; so that, in time, they present a dark- 
ened appearance. Hot and cold climates produce opposite effects 
upon people. Is it not a fact that natives of hot climates are pas- 
sionate, voluptuous, dreamy and inert, while those of colder climates 
are just the opposite — cold and indifferent, but more active, men- 
tally and physically ? 

I conclude, therefore (or rather infer), that the heating rays of 
the sun have more effect upon human beings than the actinic rays. 

Heat first produces inertia, and inertia brings on those qualities 
and conditions of mind and body peculiar to the brunette type of 
character. 

If blondes go to a hot climate and remain, their descendants 
will in time get dark; and if brunettes go to a cold climate, their 
descendants will in time get lighter; and their character will like- 
wise change in proportion. 



BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 55 

Blood is animal life, and the quality of a man's thoughts will 
depend on the quality of his blood; and the kind of blood will de- 
termine the kind of life. And I am inclined to believe that the 
blood, or the iron contained in the blood, is the developer of thought, 
in the same way that sulphate of iron in water is the developer of 
the latent image on the photographer's sensitized plate. It is the 
blood that feeds or nourishes the organs of the brain, and excites 
them to action ; that is, I believe the blood is the physical medium, 
and electricity the spiritual medium of exciting the brain and pro- 
ducing thought in a material organization. It is the blood that 
gives color to the complexion; when there is an abundance of arte- 
rial, pure cherry-red blood, we have the sanguine temperament, 
which imparts a red complexion and red hair. When the blood is 
mostly venous, or dark-colored, it leaves the complexion dark and 
the hair black; and in connection with the liver produces the bilious 
temperament. This kind of blood, or venous system, belongs to 
tropical regions. Any person having this kind of blood is cold- 
blooded; hence, can bear any amount of heat, unless modified by 
combinations of other temperaments. It imparts a sort of dor- 
mant and inactive or indolent nature, and is active only when 
aroused. When a man or woman, having this venous blood, is pro- 
voked and thoroughly aroused, he or she is very dangerous, venom- 
ous, malignant, hateful, and merciless in attack. 

We sometimes hear of men who, all their lifetime, have been 
known as quiet and peaceable citizens, who, becoming enraged, 
have committed some terrible deed. Black-eyed and black-haired 
people often have a good deal of unfathomable meanness and treach- 
ery; their ways are so dark and mysterious that they are past find- 
ing out, and the more of that snake-kind of blood they have, the 
worse they are, and their power to fascinate and use a magnetic 
influence upon others is beyond description. Many persons with 
arterial blood exercise a healthy magnetism; but the venous blood 
in a person with large, black, penetrating eyes, imparts a sort of 
sickly, irritating, weakening magnetism, similar to what serpents 
use in charming. May heaven preserve you, reader, from being a 
victim, for if once you get under the influence of such a person, you 
are a gone case — you are simply a toy, like a mouse in the claws of 
a cat, or a bird flying around in agony as it sees the Open mouth of 
its destroyer, but is unable to save itself. I know of but one way 



56 BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 

to counteract the powerful influence of men and women fascinators 
of this description. That is, to set your whole nature against them, 
and firmly resist their first attack. The more you yield to their 
influence, the harder it is to break away — like a man being fasci- 
nated by a serpent — the longer he stands and looks at it, the feebler 
he is. until he is unable to move. 

Persons, however, having pure arterial blood, and a healthy, 
vigorous constitution, will have a healthy influence over others, and, 
if the magnetic power is strong, can use it for healing others, though 
they may likewise use it for evil purposes. 

Insinuation is another, and perhaps the worst, characteristic 
belonging to brunettes, especially those who have deep, cunning, 
knowing black eyes. This is one objection that has been raised 
against the Jews; the men particularly have that bold, aggressive, pen- 
etrating, hard way of looking at a person, especially ladies, as though 
they would like to look right through them; and there are a good 
many men besides Jews who do the same thing. There are two 
kinds of insinuations, and both more applicable to brunettes, though 
frequently found in the blonde in a modified form. One is harmless, 
the other evil. A harmless insinuation is the act of gaining favor, 
influence and affection, by gentle means — the act of ingratiating 
one's-self, in a pleasing manner, into the good-will and confidence 
of another, without any desire or intention to injure or take ad- 
vantage by so doing. 

An evil insinuation is one of the deepest dyes that stains the 
soul. It means a hint, a suggestion of something immoral; artfully 
introducing and instilling into the mind thoughts and ideas that 
are wicked; hinting imputations of an injurious nature without 
making any direct charge; a creeping and stealing upon the affec- 
tions and confidence for base purposes. It was by insinuation and 
flattery that the Devil ruined our first parents; and there are a good 
many human devils in the world at the present day, perpetuating 
Satan's hellish work, and seeking to corrupt innocence by instilling 
into the minds of youth, through words, looks and actions, ideas 
calculated to kindle in their hearts the fire of passion and lust. 

I do not wish to be understood as saying that all brunettes are 
such characters as I have been describing; but simply that these 
bad traits are more likely to be found in such persons. Brunettes 
are naturally very reserved in their character. By reserve, I mean 




BRUNETTE. 
The Oblong Form of Face 




BLONDE. 

The Round Form of Face. 



BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 57 

backwardness, coyness, bashfulness, cautiousness and modesty. As 
a rule, a brunette will shrink from the idea of having a picture taken 
in a low-necked dress, unless she is artistically educated and brought 
up to dress in that manner; but a blonde is not so particular, and 
has no scruples about the matter, unless she has a very poor figure, 
or is uncultivated in taste and intellect. 

Brunettes are likewise reserved in character and manner. They 
seem to hold themselves back, and retain much of the inner and 
deeper part of their nature unrevealed to the world or their ac- 
quaintances. There is much to study in them, and it is hard to find 
out what their real, hidden character is. And yet, in some respects, 
they are the most frank, open, free and outspoken persons in exist- 
ence. There is very little of what phrenologists call secretiveness 
in their make-up; hence they are not reserved in expressing their 
ideas, but speak out plainly and to the point. 

Brunettes seldom, if ever, resort to little, underhanded, sharp 
tricks or cunning devices. When they do play any game, it is one 
that the victim will not be apt to forget. There is far more depth, 
thought, solidity and force of character in brunettes than in blondes. 
The affections in brunettes are more steady, constant, enduring and 
powerful in their nature than in the blonde type. Once in love, 
they love the same till the end of life. There is a sacred, intense 
and somewhat romantic kind of feeling in their love that is found 
in no other class; and when such individuals are in love, they are 
jealous and unhappy if the object of their affections is not exclu- 
sively theirs. This may be true of all persons to a certain extent, 
but particularly is it so with brunettes. 

A brunette girl, about ten years old, said to me once, "When I 
like any person, I don't want him to like anybody else." 

The Jews, as a class, form a good illustration of the brunette 
type, and, although in some respects they are quite reserved, in 
others, they are very free, communicative and sociable, and are a 
happy, jovial kind of people. 

Blondes are deficient in strength, power and solidity of character. 
There is much lightness and frivolity in their nature. They seem 
to see only the sunny side of life, and are always in for a good time. 
They are very fond of music, dancing and all kinds of pleasures; 
hence, are easier led astray than any other class. They have no 



58 BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 

taste for any kind of strong - intellectual food; hence, do not care 
for philosophical or scientific works or studies; but have a great 
desire for light literature, such as novels and all kinds of fictitious 
and sentimental stories. A woman of this type has little idea of 
business, or the value of a thing, and she likes to glide through life 
as easily as possible, basking in mirth and pleasure, like a butterfly 
in the sun. 

The conscience of a blonde will often stretch like a piece of 
India-rubber, and lying and cheating are second nature to them. I 
mean by these statements that many little things or points in regard 
to right and wrong, of a moral and religious nature, that others 
would have conscientious scruples about, do not trouble them in 
the least. They are quite liberal-minded about amusements, and 
do not believe in being persecuted for conscience sake. Then they 
have a way of concealing their thoughts and shifting and evading 
questions they do not wish to answer, by lying directly or indirectly. 
They will likewise pretend or assume to be pleasant and friendly 
when they do not mean it, and so deceive persons by covering up 
their thoughts and feelings in every conceivable manner — will make 
all sorts of promises which they have no idea of fulfilling; in fact, 
generally assume a character that does not belong to them. If they 
are playing any kind of game, they will cheat every opportunity 
they have, and then draw a face a yard long, and declare positively 
they did not. 

Blondes are very fond of lively music, while a brunette likes 
music that goes to the heart, thrills and touches the soul — that 
kind of music which gives deeper emotions, and carries one away 
in ecstasy. A brunette can be exceedingly good or exceedingly 
bad, and, when entirely given up to wickedness, has no equal out- 
side of the infernal regions. But blondes, from the fact that they 
are light charactered and improperly balanced in their nature, are 
more easily drawn into the current of sin. Still, they do not drink 
as deep as brunettes. The majority of prostitutes are blondes (or 
nearly so), not because they are more passionate than the other 
class, but simply because they are prone to a merry and fast kind 
of life, the result of which often leads them to that condition. 
Another reason is that there is less of the reserved (and in one 
sense, repelling), modest nature that is so peculiar to the brunettes, 
and which makes them harder to become familiar with; whereas, 



BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 59 

blondes are so giddy, thoughtless and go-aheadative in their manner 
that they seldom stop to think, reason, look ahead, or count the 
cost of their folly. 

Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and in this respect blondes set 
a good example to brunettes, for they are very particular in having 
everything around them and about their persons clean; while bru- 
nettes are generally slovenly, either in person, dress or about the 
house. This is perhaps the chief reason why the Jews have been 
objected to in some hotels, because their habits and manners about 
the rooms or at the meal tables have not been orderly and tasty. 
The women look very nice on the street, but are not so particular in 
their rooms. I shall never forget a family I met at Long Branch one 
summer; the boys would rush to the table, grab the victuals, and put 
them down like starving cats. I have no unkind feeling against the 
Jews, however, nor would I have the public to understand that the 
better class of Jews are like the family I have described. Brunettes 
are also apt to shut up and screen the windows, so that the rooms 
look cheerless and uninviting — have the walls papered dark and 
gloomy-looking. But blondes will have their rooms well lighted 
and cheerful. An architect will reveal much of his character, taste 
and love of light, or indifference about it, in his designs and plans 
for the construction of a house, and his manner of lighting and 
ventilating it. A striking illustration of this fact can be seen in 
trje interior arrangement of some hotels and public buildings in 
contrast with others. 

Society generally associates a bad temper with red hair. A 
person who has not some kind of temper is worth very little, either 
to himself or the world, because temper arises from the same fac- 
ulties that impart propelling power, executive ability and force of 
character. But the kind of temper one has arises more from the 
nature of the blood than the faculties. The faculties determine the 
degree (or intensity) and durability; therefore, red-haired persons, 
having so much arterial blood in them, are naturally hot-tempered, 
because hot-blooded, and are hot in their attachments — in fact, hot 
all through and all over, and somewhat passionate and enthusiastic; 
but they have not so much of that treacherous, revengeful, murder- 
ous disposition others have who possess more of the dark, venous 
blood. I remember a child of delicate health, brought up under 
strict religious training, but full of that sickly, venous blood, who 



60 BLONDES AND BRUNETTES. 

would almost die with fits of temper, and so hate her father at times 
that she would wish him dead. The faculties will manifest them- 
selves according to the nature of the blood. Red-haired persons 
are full of vivacity and animal life, sometimes boiling over with 
ebullitions of feeling. They are particularly adapted for (in fact, 
require) an out-door business, or some calling that will keep them 
most of their time in the open air. Men of this stamp are generally 
fond of hunting, fishing and field sports. 

Red-haired people are often quite sensitive in reference to re- 
marks made about the color of their hair. In a hotel where I was 
stopping, some one who had heard me lecture and wanted to tease 
one of the servants who had red hair, told her about my remarks 
on her color of hair, making them different, of course, from what I 
said. She was an ignorant Irish girl, and took it all in; so the next 
day as I was passing her on the stairway, she wanted to know in a 
serious tone of voice if I said that red-heads had no right to live. 
And I have often found difficulty in getting intelligent people of 
that color of hair upon a platform, for public examination. Fine 
red hair, with an intelligent and healthy countenance, is not to be 
despised but admired, especially for the good physical qualities 
which it indicates. 

In closing this chapter, I wish to remind the reader that the 
descriptions given of the blonde, brunette and red-haired conditions 
are not applicable to every person you meet, because most persons 
are combinations of two or more conditions. For instance, a person 
may be partly blonde and brunette, or a mixture of the blonde and 
red hair, which is often the case. But these suggestions will serve 
to give you the outlines of character belonging to these conditions, 
and are intended to serve as land-marks or guide-boards, by and 
through which the reader may know how and whom to investigate 
more closely for him or herself. 




LONGFELLOW, the Great American Poet. 



The mental temperament is predominant, with the motive next. The mouth nose 
and eyes are decidedly American in form and expression. The drooping of the septum 
of the nose shows him to be an original, ingenious thinker, especially in connection with 
his large intuition and imagination. The short, deep lines running up the forehead from 
the root of the nose, indicate continuity or concentration of the mind, and mark him as a 
close and intent thinker; one who brings his thoughts to bear constantly upon the subject 
before him. With an over-nervous and dyspeptic organization, these lines may aiso indi- 
cate a cross, irritable and scowling disposition. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Long- 
fellow in his beautiful home in Cambridge, Mass., one morning, and found him to be a 
pleasant, unassuming, neighborly man; one who does not try to impress you with his 
importance like many American make-believe busy-bodies do, of much less brain power 
and reputation. 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 



The Progressive Development of Americans — The means by which their Future and Per- 
fect Character will be Produced — Criticism — The Phrenologist's standard of judging 
Individuals — Parents and their Daughters — Pre-eminent Quality of the American 
Head — Wherein the Life of Americans consists — What they require to Develop- 
How they Live and Act- — What produces Dyspepsia — American Women, their Na- 
ture and Organization — Their mode of Life, and its Effects upon them — Boarding- 
house Life — Its relation to Social and Domestic Happiness — The Mental Charac- 
teristics of Americans — The Organs most Predominant in their Heads — Comparison 
between them and the French and English — What the Natural Tendency of Amer- 
icans is — Their Taste, and how they use it in contradistinction to the French — 
Nature of Benevolence in American Character: its Difference as compared with the 
English and Germans — Happiness of Americans and in what it consists — Faculties 
thai particularly mark the American Head — Anecdotes Illustrating them: A Beggar; 
a Boot-black and his manoeuvres; a Lady who wanted the Use of a Sewing-machine 
— What makes the best Business Man — What produces a Panic — Hope, and its 
Influence on the Character — The Liberty and Freedom of Americans, and its Cause; 
its tendency to Evil — Cause of Suspicion, so prominent in American Character — 
The five Defects in American Character: the first, Deficiency of Love; second, Lack 
of Continuity; third, Lack of Reverence and Propriety; fourth, Lack of Genuine 
Friendship; fifth, Tameness of Character — What Woman's Rights consist in. 



The Americans are not yet a distinct people — that is, their 
national character is not complete; it is in a rapid process of devel- 
opment, every generation bringing it nearer to a climax. What the 
developed and future character of the American people will be, I 
am not prophet enough to tell; but I venture to assert and predict 
that they will be the finest and grandest race on the face of the earth 
— mentally, if not physically. So that whatever Americans lack 
now will in time be acquired through foreign blood. 

The intermarriage of different nations will produce a people 
superior to any of those from which it is formed; because the 
strength and characteristics of all are concentrated in one, and rise 
superior to all others, just the same as an individual having a large 
amount of brains and vital force rises in power and influence above 
his neighbors. They will have a character and ideas peculiar to 
themselves and distinct from all others. Take one fact to illustrate 



62 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

this distinctiveness of character, even at the present day. The 
Americans, having the mental temperament predominant, prefer to 
raise or erect for the nation's glory monuments of learning and in- 
dustry rather than anything of a merely physical or material nature; 
while other nations, having more physical than mental development, 
will erect monuments, arches, statuary, pyramids, etc. The tem- 
peraments will be the basis in the formation of the character, of 
the almost perfect man of the future American race. 

It is well that the Americans are a very active and intelligent 
people, otherwise the progress of humanity would be very slow on 
this continent. It likewise enables them to retain their place as a 
nation. What they lack in physical force they make up in intellect 
and shrewdness, and so maintain their power and rights, and keep 
the nations of Europe at bay by mental force and moral suasion. 
On the whole, there is too much animalism and not enough of the 
mental or sympathetic nature among Europeans, so that intermar- 
riage will about equalize the mental and physical forces, and in 
time combine force and intellect in the Americans. 

I shall not indulge in any visionary ideas concerning the future, 
but confine my remarks, in this chapter, to the American head and 
character of the present day. I am aware that Americans are not 
fond of criticism. They decidedly object to it. But they must re- 
member that science deals with facts, and not feelings or nationality; 
and no critic can be just who does not treat impartially both sides 
of any question, thing, person or people, in a plain, pointed, unbiased 
manner. Is there anything more beneficial to humanity than to 
show up the errors existing in society, that they may be corrected 
or avoided ? Men of the world hate the Bible, because it reveals 
to them their own wickedness and depravity; still, of what use 
would it be for the Bible to point out the means of salvation and 
the way to heaven, without likewise showing man his depraved 
nature and need of such provisions ? And this critical spirit, which 
analyzes and looks into the depths of human nature, revealing its 
good and evil points, is the very thing that makes the Bible a living 
book. The Bible is no respecter of persons or nations; it meets all 
on the same common plane. Just so with phrenology and the 
phrenologist; they take character and reveal it as they find it. 
They are not responsible for the excesses or deficiencies in hu- 
man nature; but they are responsible for allowing these things 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 63 

to exist without raising the voice of warning criticism or com- 
mendation. 

The phrenologist's standard of judging individuals is the mind, 
and what they are physically. Rank, position, property, religion 
and nationality do not form a part or the basis of his conclusions or 
deductions of character. Therefore, the reader will please remem- 
ber that all criticisms of character, individually or collectively, 
whether of an intellectual, social, religious or national description, 
are made from phrenological observations, and not from that abom- 
inable practice in society of measuring a man by his pocket-book, 
ancestry, creed, position and nationality — and a woman by her 
dress, beauty and useless accomplishments. Parents will sacrifice 
many home comforts in order to give their daughters a fashionable 
or piano education, when many of them have no more idea of music 
or a piano than the piano has of them. Better teach them a knowl- 
edge of themselves, and how to make good wives, or, if necessary 
(and such is often the case), an independent living. Is it not better 
to judge of persons by their intellectual, moral and social capacities, 
or those characteristics which make the true man and woman ? 

One of the pre-eminent qualities of the American head is intel- 
lect; and its most predominant temperaments are the nervous 
(or mental) and motive — the nervous being the larger of the two. 
Hence they are naturally a very sensitive, energetic and enterpris- 
ing people. They could not be otherwise, having the above-named 
temperaments in excess; because a nervous temperament always 
accompanies a very sensitive and intelligent mind, while energy and 
endurance are associated with the motive temperament. The life 
of Americans is in their brain more than in their bodies, and their 
children are remarkable for precociousness. They know more at 
ten than they ought to at sixteen. Their mental growth is too 
rapid, and outstrips their physical, so that their minds eat up their 
bodies; and consequently Americans are unevenly balanced in this 
respect. They possess much brilliancy, keenness, susceptibility and 
vivacity, but before they can become a people of great power and 
force they must develop more of the animal nature, and have more 
real life and less of the fictitious and sentimental. What they need 
is a robust constitution. As they are now, they resemble a tree 
with a large top, but without roots enough to give nourishment and 
endurance ajainst the winds and storms that beat upon it. Amer- 



64 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

icans have not enough vital force to supply the constant demand 
made upon it by their active brains; hence their national disease is 
dyspepsia, accompanied by diseases of the head, throat and lungs. 

This excess of brain makes them live a fast life. They live as 
much in one day as they should in two — ever thinking, ever active, 
always restless, and never still except when they are asleep, and 
hardly then. Everything they do must be done in a hurry; they 
do not even take sufficient time to eat. If they erect a building, it 
must be done as quickly as possible, and then they must move into 
it before it is properly finished — unless it be a government building. 
If a city is partly burned up, they must commence to rebuild before 
the bricks are cold or the fire is out. In fact, everything they do 
of a business nature must be put through on the lightning-express 
style. If they meet an acquaintance on the street, they have 
scarcely time to recognize him, much less to stop to speak — at least 
this seems to be the manner of the people in the West. The cause of 
this anxious, eager, hurried kind of business life, lies partly in their 
active temperament, and is partly due to the fact that the country 
is in a state of development and progression, and the people are 
bending all their energies in this direction. Hence the accumulation 
of wealth is in proportion to the age, development and resources of 
the country. Again, many persons go West to make a fortune, and 
are not content to make it by a slow and sure process, but aim to 
make it in a year or two, or else in a lump; and the result of it all 
is, that a large proportion of the x^merican people are dyspeptics, 
victims of excitement and a craving condition of the mind. For I 
maintain that nothing will produce dyspepsia in less time than a 
disturbed mind, resulting from or occasioned by an abnormal con- 
dition of the nervous system or temperament. In other words, 
persons are mental dyspeptics before they become physical dyspep- 
tics. Restore the equilibrium of the mind, and dyspepsia will soon 
disappear. 

We also find a large amount of this delicate, sensitive, suscepti- 
ble, sympathetic and finely-wrought nature in women especially. 
This has its advantages and disadvantages. It gives, on the one 
hand, great taste, refinement and appreciation of that which is nice, 
delicate and beautiful; but on the other hand, if carried too far, it 
renders a character too particular and out of tune for the ordinary 
and practical purposes of life — involves a dislike for all kinds of 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 65 

drudgery and laborious work; a nature which may be well adapted 
to the parlor, but not adapted to the kitchen or chamber. Hence, 
American women are generally averse to doing anything in the 
form of hard work. It is foreign to their nature. They like to 
dress, visit places of amusement or some kind of entertainment. 
They prefer to board out rather than keep house; and then, if the 
least thing ails them, want their meals carried to them. They seem 
opposed to exercise and motion. 

I have seen women take a street-car for two or three blocks, and 
almost invariably stop the car in the middle of a block rather than 
walk a few steps from the crossing. Is it any wonder so many of 
them are weak and sickly ? They ought to be. It is a wonder such 
women have the use of their limbs at all. They are actually too lazy 
to accomplish anything in life — a burden to themselves and their 
friends, or to the unfortunate husbands who have them to provide 
for. I once heard a remark made by a woman, full of animal spirits, 
whose husband worked hard at his business all day, while she did 
nothing but lounge around the boarding-house, and take her meals, 
and yell at the top of her voice for the servant-girl whenever she 
wanted a little coal. It was to the effect that a physician had told 
her that women ought to take a nap once or twice a day to rest 
their nerves ! I presume the doctor's statement was about right 
when applied to women of a nervous temperament, who use their 
brains considerably. A few minutes' sleep to them is very refresh- 
ing. «But the woman referred to had more of the lymphatic tem- 
perament than of any other kind — used her brain very little, and 
her hands still less — probably did a little needle-work, such as 
mending or sewing on a few buttons; for it couldn't be expected 
such a woman could make her own dresses; her husband could pay 
for that. Now, the thing she most needed, and what would prob- 
ably have done her the most good, and clothed her in her right 
mind, was a day or two at the wash-tub every week, or some other 
vigorous exercise. I do not say that all American women are like 
her, by any means, or that there are women of no other nationalities 
like her, but she is a fair sample of a good many American women, 
especially those who are able to live in the better class of boarding- 
houses. And here I will just state that I consider the system of 
boarding-house life, so prevalent in America, a curse to the country. 
These are the places where the seeds of discontent, dissatisfaction, 



66 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

dislike and vain ambition are often planted, that will spring up and 
bear bitter fruit in after life. When a women marries, let her be 
the sole mistress of her own home — the queen of the house — and 
then there will be less opportunity afforded for others to rival her 
in that respect, and wives will be less likely to be captivated by 
other men. As to the kind of home a boarding-house offers to 
young men and young women, several years' experience in all kinds 
and grades of them, has taught me that the endearing word home 
cannot be written over the portals or fire-place of any of them — 
that is, speaking in a general manner. Here and there you will find 
a motherly, good-natured or whole-souled woman, who will take 
great interest in her boarders, especially if they are sick; but this 
is the exception, and not the rule: for it is a well-known fact that 
persons keep boarding houses for the purpose of making money, or, 
at least, a living. It becomes a matter of business; and the great 
questions in their minds are: How many boarders can we get and 
pack together, and how much can we make out of them ? Though 
there are few persons, comparatively speaking, who make anything 
beyond a plain or bare living by keeping a boarding house, even if 
they do feed them in a hash-up style. Now it is evident that there 
can be little home-feeling or comfort in such a life as has been de- 
scribed. Neither can the mistress of the house, even if she were 
willing, make each boarder realize that he or she has that which 
should be a protection and safe-guard for youth, and those more 
advanced in life; that they have that present Eden which, in plain 
English, we call home. 

Having briefly considered one of the national evils growing out 
of the American character, I pass on to consider more particularly 
and definitely the mental characteristics. The intellectual and 
moral faculties are strongly developed in the American head. Par- 
ticularly is this the case with the upper portion of the intellectual 
organs. Causality, Human Nature and Comparison are generally 
large, and this, in connection with their large Constructiveness, 
makes them a people of great mechanical ingenuity, naturally in- 
ventive — though their inventive genius arises partly from other 
conditions, such as temperament and that distinct, peculiar national 
cast of mind, which, I suppose, has been formed by the great activ- 
ity of the constructive faculties, rendered absolutely necessary in 
developing and building up the country from the time of its con- 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 67 

quest and settlement up to the present moment. Acquisitiveness 
is well developed in Americans; hence their activity in business 
pursuits. All nations have some faculties or temperaments which 
are larger than the others in the majority or mass of the people, 
and the excess of these faculties determines their character. The 
French, for instance, have large amativeness, approbativeness, ideal- 
ity and agreeableness — the mental, passional and excitable tem- 
peraments. There may be other strong conditions, but these serve 
for the present illustration. Now, these conditions render the 
French a sensitive, polite and remarkably tasty people. Their pro- 
ductions of fancy articles and pictures fill the whole world; their 
pictures being the outcome of thought, ideality, color, amativeness 
and the passional temperaments. Their approbativeness imparts 
to them a great desire for glory and renown, and in their battles 
they move under the impulse of approbativeness and excitability; 
but, if repulsed, they fall back discouraged. Whereas, had they the 
faculty of firmness larger, which imparts the unflinching and un- 
yielding disposition, which is so prominent in the English head, they 
would stick to it, stand their ground, and conquer or die. 

The passional and excitable temperaments make the French 
people very restless, and somewhat uncontrollable; and this, com- 
bined with their excess of approbativeness and amativeness, makes 
them a warlike people. It is not the nature of amativeness to shed 
blood, but combined with other conditions, it delights in seeing it, 
for bright red colors are the ones mostly admired and selected by 
persons whose amativeness is the strongest element in their nature. 
Let a regiment of red-coats go into a town or city, and many of the 
women become infatuated over them. The soldiers have little 
difficulty in forming all the acquaintances they want among the 
younger class; and, what is still worse, they are easily seduced. 
Therefore, red-coats, combined with a manly and striking ap- 
pearance, excite the amativeness of the women. I presume this is 
why anything red so quickly excites and enrages a bull. Now the 
English possess considerable cautiousness, as well as firmness and 
self-esteem, and they are not so quick to rush into the battle-field, 
or commence a war; but, a war once begun, they are steadfast, im- 
movable and unflinching in their conflicts and purposes. 

The Americans are anything but a warlike people. They are 
more inclined to business, literature, invention, and the building up of 



68 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

benevolent and free institutions. The leading faculties in American 
heads are human nature, benevolence, ideality, acquisitiveness, ap- 
probativeness and cautiousness, with the nervous-motive tempera- 
ments. The taste of Americans is of a different kind from that of 
the French. The latter use their taste in connection with the 
passions mostly; but Americans use their ideality in connection 
with the moral sentiments and nervous temperament. Hence they 
are a people of great refinement and delicacy of feeling and taste. 
They seem to have a natural aversion to things that are coarse, 
large and common. They admire a delicate foot, hand, mouth or 
nose. Their house furniture is generally made very tastily, but the 
wood part is often so slight, that it is not durable, and will often fall 
into pieces before it is half worn out. American architects, as a 
class, seem to have little idea of strength and solidity, and the sup- 
ports of columns or pillars of prominent buildings are often too 
weak to carry the immense weight put upon them; all because they 
have a desire to construct things light and tasty rather than 
strong and durable. 

Benevolence is quite large in Americans, but its manifestation 
is of a sympathetic nature. They prefer to give money rather than 
their time or labor, and are very free in their donations for all kinds 
of religious and worthy purposes. In the English, however, benev- 
olence shows itself in the form of hospitality, because adhesiveness 
and the social faculties generally, are larger in that nation. This 
is the case with the Germans, also. Their happiness consists in 
their home sociability. Not so with Americans. Their happiness 
comes more from external sources and conditions than from within 
and among themselves. Neither are they much given to visiting 
or gossiping about their neighbors. The faculties which particularly 
mark the American head are human nature and benevolence. They 
are invariably good readers of character at first sight, and form 
correct estimates of persons they meet by intuitive impressions. 
Hence they are generally interested in the unfolding of human 
character, and are inclined to study or pry into human nature and 
life in all its aspects. It imparts much of the genius for discovery 
of new methods, ways and means of doing things. What a people 
the Americans are for devising some peculiar and novel way of 
advertising! And, in connection with other faculties, this quality 
makes them noted for all kinds of inventions. 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 69 

The faculty of human nature, or intuition, is a great advantage 
in business matters. It teaches persons when and how to do or say 
a thing, how to approach a person in the best and most effective 
manner, so as to gain a business point, or make a sale, purchase or 
a good bargain. It prompts a person to do and say the right thing 
at the right time, in the associations, positions and circumstances 
of life. Through its influence we gain or lose upon others, and with 
a nervous temperament and the organic quality, we feel, as well as 
perceive, what persons are as soon as we approach or come in con- 
tact with them. It is the faculty that aids the detective to discover 
the offending party, and, if locality be large, generally indicates 
where to look for him, and, with secretiveness added, it enables him 
to work on the mind of the offender so as to bring out his secrets. 
A detective, however, does not require the organic quality, or much 
of the nervous temperament. The lower the organization in some 
respects, the better; that is, they want more of the animal than men- 
tal nature. In other words, to ferret out a thief, one wants consid- 
erable of the thievish propensity himself; not that it is necessary for 
him to be a thief, but that he requires the same combination of 
selfish faculties, which in the thief has been perverted to a criminal 
use. He must be able to smell a thief a mile off. Intuition pries 
right into the realities of a thing. Outside show and false appear- 
ances cannot deceive it. It was this faculty principally which im- 
mortalized the name of Shakespeare. No other man ever penetra- 
ted so far into the soul, nor brought to light human nature so clearly 
and completely as he did. 

Beggars and peddlers use this faculty with considerable success. 
Their business teaches them how to approach persons, and they 
generally do it by appealing to their sympathetic nature. Some 
cases which have come under my own observation will illustrate 
this point: A woman one day came into my office, which at that 
time was on the fifth floor. She had a child in her arms, and I no- 
ticed she came up the stairs instead of the elevator. Intuition told 
me at once that if she was able to carry a baby up four flights of 
stairs, she was able to work. As she entered my office, she assumed 
a pitiful, sad expression. I resolved to watch her for a while, and 
in passing her on the street, so as to get another view of her phys- 
iognomy, I observed that her countenance was changed from that 
of a sorrowful woman to one bold and defiant, and she evidently 



70 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

recognized me and my intentions. Still she continued to call from 
block to block, walking up and down stairs, carrying the child in 
her arms. - I learned afterwards from a boy who knew her well (he 
having lived in the same house) that the child was not her own, but 
one she borrowed every day from a neighbor to go around begging 
with. Thus her object was to work upon the sympathetic nature 
of persons, which is generally strong in the American head; and I 
presume she made it pay, for hers was certainly no easy task." An- 
other case that I will mention (as my object is to point out the 
various ways in which the faculty of intuition acts), is that of a 
boot-black. Having attended a religious meeting, I was on my 
way home, in company with a minister. Passing along one of the 
principal streets in the city, we were accosted by a young boot- 
black, who offered to "shine 'em up" for a cent, the regular charge 
being ten cents; he stating, as an excuse for his low price, that he 
was hard up. This touched our benevolent nature, and I allowed 
him to black my boots, though I intended giving him more than a 
cent. I found he had no brush to apply the blacking with, nothing 
but a piece of rag. He remarked that some other boy had stolen 
his brushes. Tfris excited my pity still more, and when he was 
through, I asked him again how much he charged; he replied, "I 
said that I would do it for a cent." My friend gave him twenty-five 
cents, and I agreed to give him a brush if he would call at my office 
the next day. About two days afterward he called, received his 
brush and some more money (part of which was given him by a 
third party). He again appealed to my generosity, stating that he 
wished to buy some evening papers to sell on the streets, but did 
not have sufficient money, and that if I would only lend him thirty- 
five or forty cents, he would return it the next day; at the same 
time telling me about a mother and sick sister he had at home, 
and what bad luck they were having; that they were also partly 
dependent upon the little he earned for support. He likewise in- 
formed me that he was a Sunday-school scholar, and didn't I know 
a certain gentleman who was a teacher? I told him I did. This 
made me still more interested in him, and I began to feel like help- 
ing the boy all I could, so I let him have the money to buy papers. 
He returned a day or two afterward, not, however, to pay back the 
money he borrowed, but to ask another loan, stating he had again 
been unfortunate, having lost the other, and was consequently unable 




Originator of the Spencerian system of penmanship. He possesses the rare gifts of 
the artist, poet, and inventor, for such his productions have proved him to be. Penmen 
require fine and sensitive organizations. The nervous temperament is predominant, and 
th • motive next. His nose indicates a commercial and enterprising spirit, and together 
with the high, full forehead, reveals an ingenious and inventive talent. Observe the nose 
is not only prominent, but long, and slightly drooping at the point. 




A son of P. R. Spencer, and a resident of Washington, D. C. He differs from his 
father in having a broader head between the ears, which imparts more force and executive 
ability, but less of the poetical and inventive. The vital temperament is predominant in 
him, with the motive and mental next. 

He possesses more of the practical than sentimental cast of mind. There is only a 
moderate development of bones or frame work. The absorbents of his system are active, 
and he is naturally more inclined to brain than muscle work. 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. yi 

to get any papers. At this time he tried to get what he could from 
others in the office. I began to see through his tricks, and conclu- 
ded he was playing the confidence game on me. Now, to sum up, 
this boy had the faculty of human nature, or intuition, large him- 
self, which gave him an insight into human nature generally. It 
likewise gave him a knowledge of the way to approach others, and 
impress himself and his condition in the most favorable manner 
upon them. To offer to black boots for a cent would be a sure 
proof of his extreme poverty and pressing need, and be the first 
thing to commend him to a stranger's attention. He further knew 
that no person having any manly feeling would allow him to black 
his boots for a cent, and so, step by step, he would gain on the good 
nature of others. 

Take one more illustration: A lady once wanted the use of a 
sewing-machine. She had none, and did not care to buy one. So 
her human nature devised a novel way of getting the use of one 
without either buying or borrowing, She knew sewing-machine 
stores would send a machine on trial to persons wishing to purchase, 
before they decided on it. Accordingly she went to the office, 
priced the machines, and ordered one sent home on trial. She en- 
gaged a woman to come and sew, and use the machine; of course 
she was too much of a lady to do it herself. She kept it in use 
about two weeks, or until she had her sewing completed, meanwhile 
instructing her servant that, if the agent called, he was to be in- 
formed she was not in. After getting her work done, she sent the 
machine back, stating it did not suit. All confidence games are 
practiced principally through the faculties of intuition, secretiveness 
and comparison. The descriptions and illustrations I have given 
are sufficient to put the inquiring mind in a fair way to find out the 
peculiar manner and endless directions in which this faculty may 
be used both for good and evil purposes. It was through the fac- 
ulty of human nature that Satan approached our first parents. He 
knew their weakest point was their animal propensities, and there- 
fore knew how to excite these propensities in them, and this is just 
the way the Devil tempts people in the present day. This is the 
way human devils lead the innocent astray. They know through 
the faculty of intuition how to approach them and present tempta- 
tion in the strongest and most forcible manner. Other things being 
equal, the man with the largest amount of intuition will be the best 



72 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

business man, because he knows how to deal with people, how to 
draw their attention, and present a business temptation to them. 
Like a farmer who had the cash to buy a sewing-machine with, and 
told an agent he was acquainted with, that if he wanted to sell him 
a machine, he must be at his house on such a day at a certain hour. 
So the agent went to the trouble and expense of taking a machine 
out to his residence, and on arriving there found three other agents 
with machines also. The farmer evidently wanted to get up a com- 
petition and buy the cheapest, so he had hunted up all the agents 
he could find in that section of the county, and prevailed on them 
to be on hand with their machines. The agent he was acquainted 
with, thinking he would be the lucky man, left his machine a day or 
two on trial, and went away; then the other agents screwed his up 
so tight that it wouldn't work; and the result was, the farmer re- 
jected it, and finally bought the worst machine of the lot. He was 
too sharp for his own good in one respect, and not sharp enough in 
another. If he had used the same amount or one-half of the ingen- 
uity in selecting a machine, that he did in getting agents there, he 
would have got a better machine. As it was, the agents seeing 
they had been a little outwitted, set their intuition to work and 
fooled him. 

An excess or perverted use of this faculty in business matters 
makes men suspicious, and imparts a lack of business confidence, 
and, when this lack of confidence becomes general, accompanied 
with an excess of cautiousness and acquisitiveness, a panic is the 
result; because large intuition makes people distrustful. Their 
cautiousness makes them afraid to risk or adventure, causes fear, 
and holds them back, while acquisitiveness makes them hang on 
with a death grip to what they have. 

Worldly hope is another prominent organ in the American head, 
and combined with approbativeness and combativeness gives rise 
to that spirit of enterprise they are so much noted for. Without 
this faculty there would be little inclination either to plan or accom- 
plish anything of a business or benevolent nature. It is the soul of 
commerce, the foundation or basis of national prosperity, and the 
anchor that holds secure the rights and privileges of the great re- 
public. Hope looks beyond the present into the future — illumes 
every prospect and colors every object. It was hope that cheered 
up the sad, heart-stricken people of Chicago, and nerved them 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 73 

with sufficient enterprise to rebuild a city made desolate by the 
ravages of fire. Hope, mingled with ambition, urges on the con- 
tending forces upon the battle-field. Under its buoyant influence 
men fight bravely, and press on to victory. But when it fails, all 
is lost, unless it be re-inspired. Without hope men would have no 
desire to embark in any new enterprise, inhabit or develop any new 
country, or build up institutions of any kind. Hope is the guiding- 
star of the American people, lighting up their pathway, and leading 
them on, step by step, to the climax of national power and grandeur. 
What a year of jubilee was the Centennial to every loyal American ! 
The phrenological organ of hope, however, is not large in the Amer- 
ican head, but generally deficient; nevertheless, there is a kind of 
feeling giving the spirit of enterprise and adventure which people 
call hope, that arises chiefly from other faculties, such as approbat- 
iveness, acquisitiveness, combativeness and firmness, combined with 
the mental-motive temperament. 

Benevolence is remarkably developed; hence the desire to grant 
every man liberty of thought, conscience and person. It cannot 
endure slavery, the union of Church and State, nor religious intol- 
erance. It prompted the sentiment uttered by Jonathan Edwards, 
that liberty of conscience, as well as liberty of person, is the birth- 
right of every man. And ever since, that innate principle of equity 
and freedom has been waging war upon all kinds of oppression. 
But there is a danger of every faculty running to excess; and such 
has been the case in regard to benevolence, especially in its moral 
and religious aspects. There is too much liberality of opinion, and 
Americans too easily give way to encroachments upon their rights 
and to aggressive advances. 

There is likewise a large percentage of American people, as well 
as Germans, who are altogether too liberal in their religious ideas. 
Their conception of God comes mostly through their faculty of 
benevolence or kindness, and they fail to recognize justice as an 
attribute belonging to the Divine Being. Hence they imagine they 
will be let off in the next world about as easily as criminals are 
let off in the United States, especially in Chicago. The idea of hell, 
or any definite place of punishment, is revolting to their minds. 
I do not purpose to discuss the proposition as to whether hell is a 
place or state — though I cannot divest myself of the idea that that 
which has existence must, of necessity, have locality; nor can I per- 



74 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

suade myself that, in the next world, we shall be flying meteors or 
wandering stars. For the soul possesses a faculty — a desire in the 
heart — for a place of permanent abode; so, if we do not have a 
permanent dwelling-place in the future life, we have one faculty 
which needs to be annihilated at the time of death. 

The idea that God is too good and kind to punish sin arises from 
an excess of the faculty of benevolence. 

The love of free thought, and the granting of it to others, is the 
outgrowth of this faculty; but there is a boundary line and a point 
beyond which free thought and generous ideas become an evil in- 
stead of a blessing. On the. other hand, deficient benevolence, with 
large conscientiousness, combativeness and destructiveness, picture 
God as a very severe, unrelenting and unmerciful being; and if 
mirthfulness is deficient, will consider it a sin to laugh, and will en- 
gage in religious exercises with a face about a yard long. I hold, 
therefore, that no being can think intelligently and correctly upon 
any subject without an equal and combined exercise of all their 
faculties. This explains the reason of such a diversity of religious 
creeds and opinions on all subjects. Men form their ideas through 
different sets of faculties, and temperaments in different proportions, 
and different kinds and degrees of education. One great work 
which has begun, and is still in progress in America, through be- 
nevolence, is the establishment of common schools, colleges and 
charitable institutions, to which the American people owe their 
intelligence and salvation from tyranny. 

As I have previously mentioned, benevolence does not always 
manifest itself in precisely the same way. In different countries it 
has different manifestations. In the English, for instance, it im- 
parts a spirit of hospitality, because it is used more in connection 
with their social faculties; but in Americans there is less hospitality 
and more of the sympathetic nature and disposition to give, because 
they use it in connection with their moral and business faculties. 

Secretiveness seems to work in connection with human nature 
and acquisitiveness, and therefore creates a suspicious disposition 
among Americans, especially in business matters; and, with the 
addition of cautiousness, destroys confidence in mankind. It causes 
one to suspect another's motives, words and actions, even without 
sufficient cause. The combined action of the first three faculties 
mentioned is the source of all the black-mailing and confidence- 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 75 

games so extensively practiced in this country. It prompts a desire 
to pry into other people's affairs, business and secrets — to quiz and 
find out things by an indirect method, at the same time concealing 
its own motives and secrets. They will even go so far as to dis- 
cuss, oppose and apparently reject the very ideas and information 
they are trying to gather, in order to get the other party to tell all 
he knows upon the subject. Then, after gathering all the facts they 
can, they will make use of them for their own benefit, and perhaps 
to the injury of the other party. 

Let a stranger enter a boarding-house or family hotel, and if 
there is anything in him or about him to attract attention, the va- 
rious members of the household, especially the ladies, will begin to 
make inquiries either directly or indirectly as to who and what he 
is. One will find out one thing and another something else, then 
they will put their bits of information and wits together, and thus 
form an estimate of what kind of a person the stranger is. 

An excess or perverted use of intuition gives rise to all kinds of 
humbuggery, deceptions, quackery and false appearances. Hence 
this faculty that ought to be one of the most useful in human life 
becomes the instrument through which a vast amount of crime and 
rascality is committed. 

There are five great defects in American character. The first 
is a deficiency of ardent love. The affections are too much of a 
mere sympathetic and superficial nature. There is not enough of 
that deep, heartfelt feeling that sets on fire the hearts of others. 

American girls often mistake admiration for love, and marry a 
young man under the influence of that feeling, finding out their mis- 
take when it is too late. When two hearts come together that are 
thoroughly in love with each other, there will be no divorce business, 
nor can any person or power on earth separate them — that is, when 
the parties have the love element in their nature strong. 

The second defect I wish to notice is the lack of continuity. The 
majority of American heads that I examine are deficient in this re- 
spect; hence a mechanic in this country is often a "Jack of all trades," 
and life is a continual change. Men go into one business for awhile, 
then drop it, and take up another — conduct it in one place for a 
short time, then remove to another; and so they keep on changing, 
like a bird in a tree, hopping from branch to branch. It is the cause 



76 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

of impatience; they are always in a hurry. If they call at a business 
office, and the proprietor is not in, they cannot wait five minutes — 
cannot take time to eat, even. Hence business is generally trans- 
acted in an excited manner, which is very trying to the nervous 
system. In large stores, where women are clerking, they are not 
allowed to sit down during business hours, and they are expected to 
appear busy, whether they are or not. Now this is a cruel practice 
— a species of barbarism — to keep young women (and many of them 
quite delicate and weak) on their feet all day. It is really worse 
than hard work. I knew a business man who, whenever a person 
entered his store, would always commence fussing and pulling his 
books and papers over, in an excited way, as though he had consid- 
erable business on hand, when really he had none. This make- 
believe way of doing business seems to be a common practice. 

The third deficiency is lack of reverence and propriety or decor- 
um. This may not be true of every American; neither may it be so 
applicable to every State in the Union: nevertheless, it represents 
a large class. 

How little fear and humility is manifested toward the Divine 
Being and his laws! How little respect and esteem there is for 
things sacred — the Sabbath, the Bible, ministers of the Gospel, and 
God himself! Even old age is not honored as it should be. What 
means all this worldly-mindedness, skepticism, infidelity, and Sab- 
bath desecration of every conceivable kind, if reverence and devotion 
are not deficient, or at least dormant ? But, you say, look at all the 
churches, and the large number of people that attend them, and the 
vast amount of religious and benevolent work done by them. Well, 
suppose we do look at them for a minute. In the first place there 
are more people who do not go to church than there are who do, 
and this majority have no regard for anything of a religious nature. 
Then all persons who attend church are not devout. Some other 
faculty than veneration takes many of them there. Some go be- 
cause it is a custom somewhat fashionable; some go for business 
purposes; some to see and be seen; some go for the sake of getting 
acquainted — especially is this the case with young people. I re- 
member meeting a stranger at a church-gathering one evening, and 
almost his first question was, " Can't you introduce me to some of 
the young ladies ?" Feeling somewhat reluctant, I introduced him 
to a gentleman, and passed on. Now, it was his amativeness that 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. // 

brought him there. Of course, all these feelings and motives, in a 
measure, may be right enough; but when the principal motive arises 
from amativeness or selfishness, it is entirely wrong. But let us go 
still farther. Take the members of the churches; what about them? 
The majority of them are half asleep, so far as the faculty of vener- 
ation is concerned. Not more than one-third or one-fourth of the 
members will attend the weekly prayer-meeting, and not more than 
one-fourth of those who attend will take any part in the exercises. 
Just think of it; only about one-eighth or tenth part of them are 
praying members — that is, in the church meetings: and it is a ques- 
tion whether a member who is never heard in a meeting prays much 
either at home or in private. So you can count on your fingers the 
active members of the largest churches in any city. In the country 
it is different; though, so far as churches and their members are 
concerned, this is more or less the case all the world over. But I 
am speaking of that feeling of respect and esteem toward any per- 
son or thing of a religious nature, which is simply one of the mani- 
festations of the faculty of worship or veneration. That wholesale 
sarcasm and suspicion heaped upon ministers, because a few of them 
happen to turn out badly, is one of its manifestations. Doing busi- 
ness on the Sabbath is another, and caviling with the Bible, and re- 
jecting its teachings, influence and authorship is another. This 
deficiency of veneration is likewise observable in a like deficiency of 
propriety. What an annoying and very common practice it is, in 
any public gathering, whether religious or otherwise, to see persons 
get up and go out before the meeting is over, thereby disturbing 
the whole audience, and particularly the speaker. If it is in a 
church, they cannot wait patiently till the benediction is pronounced,' 
but must rush for the door about that time, or be putting on their 
over-coats or over-shoes, as though it was of the utmost importance 
that they should get out as quickly as possible. If in a theater, they 
cannot wait to see the play properly finished; they are all on their 
feet, and some of them out on the street, when the curtain drops. 
Such actions are unbecoming any audience claiming civilization. 
Deficient reverence and continuity is the cause. 

A lack of continuity makes them impatient and anxious for 
a change, and a lack of reverence makes them regardless of the 
respect due the person or persons conducting the meeting. A 
similar thing is noticable in a street-car. A certain class of men 



78 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

will invariably keep their seats, and allow a lady to stand up, es- 
pecially if she is old and plainly dressed. But if she is stylish, hand- 
some and fast-looking, all the fools in the car will immediately jump 
up, as though they had an electric battery under them, and tender 
their seats. In the latter case, their amativeness prompts them to 
get up; but in the case of an old lady or gentleman, there is nothing 
to excite their amativeness, and, reverence being deficient, they 
keep their seats. There are some exceptions, however; men who 
are fatigued with the labors of the day should hardly be expected 
to give up their seats to women of idleness and pleasure, who have 
just been out for an afternoon frolic. Such individuals should get 
home before the cars are crowded, or wait till the crowd is over, or 
else content themselves to stand up. They are generally the ones 
who expect a seat, however, and feel it a task to stand up for a few 
blocks, but they can go to a ball and dance all night, and they would 
feel very blue if they had to sit on that occasion. 

The fourth deficiency is the lack of genuine friendship among 
Americans. Corroborative facts clearly show the deficiency or else 
the control of this quality by counteracting influences. In other 
words, the social or domestic faculties are either weak, or else re- 
strained and held in subjection to other faculties that are too strong. 
A decided lack of this social and confiding nature can be seen in 
every kind, rank and condition of society. It seems to raise a bar- 
rier between individuals, and says, "Thus far, but no farther." It 
creates a mistrustful, half-suspicious kind of feeling, that tends to 
keep acquaintances, and more especially strangers, at arm's length. 
It causes persons to act on that uncharitable principle of treating 
every man as a rogue till you find him honest. It suspects the mo- 
tives of persons, and attributes to them intentions they never pos- 
sessed; whereas a confiding, social disposition presumes a person to 
be honest and upright in motive, purpose and general character, 
and treats people as such until the opposite is proven to be the case. 
I do not hesitate to assert that the majority of separations, divorces 
and dissatisfaction in matrimonial life arises from this very cause. 
Husband and wife do not place that entire confidence in each other 
which they ought to do — do not freely express their thoughts, 
ideas and sentiments; do not have all things in common; do not 
counsel together, and seek each other's advice; fail to work in per- 
fect harmony; lack union and a flowing together of soul. Hence, in 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

An honest face. A plain, unassuming, common-sense, straightforward character is 
clearly expressed in his countenance. There is an entire absence of artifice, cunning arid 
trickery, which are written in the faces of so large a proportion of mankind of the present 
day. His temperament is chiefly motive, or that part of it called the osseous form; hence 
the bony and angular form of the face. It was this large development of bone that im- 
parted his solid character, and gave him great physical endurance so that he could split 
three hundred rails in a day. Noble soul! may his memory live long in the hearts of his 
countrymen; and may succeeding generations rise up to emulate his life and follow his 
example. 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 79 

time, they begin to get jealous and suspicious of each other, just be- 
cause they do not know what each other's plans and intentions are. 
Now, if the husband, on returning from his day's work or business, 
would freely and unreservedly converse on the occurrences and busi- 
ness transactions of the day, and gather his wife's ideas on the same, 
or, if he goes out for the evening, either take her along, or let her 
know just where he is going, or what has transpired, he would 
doubly cement her affections and good will, and she would be will- 
ing to accord him all the more liberty to go and do as he pleased. 
If, on the other hand, the wife, on her husband's return, would do 
all in her power to render him happy, make things pleasant, pro- 
vide him a supper as palatable as possible, interest herself in getting 
it ready, or see that it is properly prepared, then tastefully dress 
and arrange her toilet for his return, meet him with a smile and lov- 
ing embrace, she would possess a husband that would think the 
world of her, and make almost any sacrifice to please her. He would 
generally be contented to remain at home, and not be so very much 
interested in committee meetings, or calling on other ladies. Never 
begin to question and cross-question a man, especially an English- 
man, before he has had his tea, and somewhat rested himself. Then 
he will probably tell you all you wish to know, without being asked. 
Do not begin to scold, as soon as he enters the house, or trouble 
him with domestic affairs, more than necessary, or fret before him 
about the servant not doing things right. He has had sufficient to 
perplex him during the day, so that when he gets home he wants 
to breathe a home atmosphere, and find those surroundings that 
will call into action a different class of faculties than he has been 
using all day, and so give relief to his mind. Another difficulty is, 
that the husband having become irritated or annoyed by the busi- 
ness cares of the day, allows himself to show it on his return home. 
The wife, instead of trying to humor and make him cheerful, gets 
irritated herself, and spoils the whole evening's enjoyment. I do not 
care if a man goes home as ugly as sin, if he has any affection in his 
nature, and the wife uses her natural tact and caressing, fascinating 
influence, she can make him as amiable and docile as a pet lamb in 
about ten minutes. Remember, "A soft answer turneth away 
wrath," and love begets love. I wish every discontented husband 
and wife would try this prescription for one month. I do not say that 
this is an antidote for all matrimonial difficulties; it will cure many 



SO THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

of them. There are other troubles of a more serious nature, such 
as cases where the parties are not physically or mentally adapted 
to each other. I refer to these marriage troubles in this chapter 
because they are more frequent in the United States than anywhere 
else, and are mainly caused by the half- afraid and unconfiding na- 
ture so prevalent in American people. But this unsocial spirit is 
noticeable all through society, in church sociables, in parlor gather- 
ings, in public receptions or entertainments, and in every kind of 
organization. I admit there is a certain amount of outward polite- 
ness and apparent sociability, but what I mean is, there is not that 
free, hearty, whole-souled sociability that throws off reserve and 
breaks through the cold formality that springs from fashionable 
etiquette, and prevents persons from acting according to the natural 
impulses of the heart. What a life some people must live who are 
constantly smothering up their better feelings, because they dare 
not manifest them for fear the sentimental, fashionable, fastidious 
class would consider them bold, rude, and wanting in so-called re- 
finement ! How difficult it is to bring American people together to 
an informal social party or entertainment. It is all right if they can 
be brought together by common consent, interest, or acquaintance- 
ship, and at some first-class public amusement. But to get them 
together for a mere social, friendly purpose, is out of the question. 

Self-respect is another very deficient faculty in at least nine- 
tenths of the people of this as well as some other countries. For 
this reason the average American is careless in his habits; will put 
his feet anywhere he can get them to suit his ease or convenience. In 
business transactions will do things that are small, mean and beneath 
the dignity of a man to. do — seems to throw honor aside, and stoop to 
all sorts of tricks and petty annoying dickerings and evasions. Mor- 
ally he will do things that are low and degrading; resort to practices 
that are ruinous and abominable unless under the influence of moral 
or religious restraint. And if, reader, you wish proof of the above 
statements, just look at the moral state of society of the present day; 
look at the amount of police-court and law business that is being done 
every week and year; look at the corruption and under-hand games in 
politics, and the large class who, eagle-like, are always ready to 
pounce upon and take advantage of others in their financial distress 
or straitened circumstances, all of which is largely due to small 
self-respect, because if people had large self-respect they would feel 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 8 1 

too dignified and God-like in character to let themselves down to 
any act that was small, mean, unmanly, or degrading. Some dogs 
are always ready to pitch into smaller dogs that they think they can 
easily chaw to pieces, but a Newfoundland dog would think it be- 
neath his dignity to tackle a small dog, and this somewhat illus- 
trates the difference in human nature between small and large self- 
respect. 

Small self-respect will cause a person to be dishonest over a few 
cents. Like a round, plump, lazy-looking woman who got into a 
'bus on Broadway, N. Y., rode as far as she wanted, and got out 
again without paying her five cents for fare. The other passengers 
commented on it saying they knew by her actions she did not intend 
to when she took her seat. Small self-respect with large acquisi- 
tiveness or selfishness, will also cause people to stickle and argue 
about a cent or two in buying or selling any article. Nowhere in 
the country is this one cent business more apparent than in the 
eastern or New England states. In the southern and western states 
they do not think so much of a cent. In the East, families have been 
known to wait till one of their neighbors got their fire started, and 
then take in a kettle of water to be boiled, and biscuits or pies to be 
baked, so as to save the expense of making a fire themselves. In 
one of my tours in the East, I remember giving a public lecture in a 
church, not far from Boston. As it was on a moral subject and I 
wished to reach all I could, I made the admission free and simply 
took a contribution. The result was, fully one-half the audience 
gave one cent apiece, and the remainder gave between five and ten 
cents. That was piety minus dignity. 

The fifth defect consists in tameness of character — not enough 
of the passional temperament, and whole-souled nature. They are 
too cold and indifferent, manifesting little excitement or enthusiasm. 
Too much mental life, and not enough physical. What the Amer- 
icans need is an infusion of French, German and British blood, the 
French giving more excitability, voluptuousness and intensity of 
the life-feelings, and the English and German more solidity, prac- 
ticality, honesty, concentrated power and confiding affection, with 
hospitality. With these additions, there will be less distrust, insin- 
cerity, lack of confidence, sentimentalism, changeableness, marriage 
difficulties, and less of that hurried, worried, fast, excitable way of 
living and doing business. Now, I am not advocating that people 



82 THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 

should give way to voluptuousness in the common acceptation of 
the term; but if the American people, and women especially, had a 
little more of this nature, it would tend to offset that excess of men- 
tality which is rapidly consuming their vitality, and causing them 
to be extremely sensitive, nervous, irritable, and continually crav- 
ing after something, they hardly know what. If they had more of 
the European physique, they would be much better sexed, have bet- 
ter figures, and hence make better wives, more amiable, loving and 
confiding; would be more inclined to attend to domestic duties, and 
take the place nature assigns to women, instead of aiming to be 
men, and taking men's positions, advocating woman's rights, and at- 
tempting a variety of things woman is not adapted for. Woman's 
rights consist in developing physical perfection, and an amiable, con- 
fiding, loving disposition. When they accomplish this they will 
have greater power over men, and gain more rights than they can 
ever hope to get at the ballot-box. The great difficulty with the 
women of the present day is that they do not want to work. They 
are willing to do almost anything else if they can only have an easy 
time, and live a fashionable, amusing sort of butterfly life. Talk 
about the slavery of women ! They are greater slaves to their own 
vanity and depraved taste than they are to the lusts of men; so that 
if their passion for the opposite sex is not as strong as that of men 
for them, it is stronger for dress, jewelry, style and high life; hence 
they are willing to sacrifice their bodies to obtain what they have a 
passion for, whether legal or illegal. Now, men know this, and so 
take advantage of it. Still, I do not say that men are not to blame. 
I believe it is six of one and half a dozen of the other. But I do 
say that a good, true, intelligent, well-developed woman, who exer- 
cises the natural tact and powers of life which God and nature in- 
tended her to exert, can control a man just about as she pleases; 
but an artificial woman, composed mostly of skin and bones, and a 
bundle of nerves, daubed over with powder or paint, with very little 
affection, who is so delicate and sensitive that she wants to be 
petted and waited on like a baby, cannot and need not expect to 
command the affection of a husband, unless he is ignorant of what 
constitutes a woman. When women restore themselves to proper 
physiological and mental conditions, and become more domesticated, 
there will be less wailing and gnashing of teeth among dissatisfied 
husbands and wives — not quite so many elopements, runaways and 



THE AMERICAN HEAD AND CHARACTER. 83 

divorces. Even prostitution will decrease, because there will not 
be so many dissatisfied husbands to help support that class, nor yet 
so many women leaving their homes and going into that kind of 
business. Likewise the men will become purer in their character, 
because they will be contented to stay at home, will not seek the 
company of strange women; and every child that is born will be 
healthy, happy and moral. When men and women are born into 
the world with sensual, craving appetites, what else can we expect 
but that their lives will be full of evil and discontent. 

The American girl, in her various phases of life, is certainly an 
interesting study. She is really a curiosity, because she displays a 
character to suit the place, time and occasion. At home, she is the 
family pet; at school she is submissive, docile and eager in her de- 
sire to please and win honors. At a summer resort she is another 
creature; there she begins to feel and show her independence, in- 
difference and vanity. She may make herself attractive, but not 
so sweet and lovable as in her school days. The change that takes 
place in her when she emerges from girlhood into womanhood is 
about as great as the change between the caterpillar and butterfly. 
In girlhood she is innocent, amiable, confiding and yielding, but the 
moment she comes in contact with the world she begins to feel like 
a bird let out of a cage; and then it is that the arts, devices and 
ingenuity peculiar to her sex begin to crop out. Yes, I repeat it, 
the young American school girl, in her short dresses, is not only 
bright and lively, but indescribably sweet, lovely, docile and amiable. 
Alas ! that she so often loses some of those qualities in after years ! 

That these changes for the better will gradually take place, there 
is every reason to hope, because the American is yet in the process 
of development. 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 



Cause of Dishonesty — Has Man the power to regain lost Purity? — Is there a Personal 
Devil? — Adamistic Sin — A Principle of Phrenology— Relation of Mind and Body — 
Primary Cause of Disease and Sin — Perverted Faculties — How to counteract Pas- 
sion and form a pure Character — The Influence of Amorous Thoughts — Definition 
of Conscience — Its relation to other Faculties — No Person perfectly Honest — Three 
Prerequisites to Honesty — Education of the Conscience: How to do it — Time re- 
quired to Reform Character — Cause of Criminal Acts — How to Determine a Person's 
Honesty — Persons Honest in some things and Dishonest in others, and why they 
are so — How to judge of Young Men and Young Women — How to perceive Sin- 
cerity or Insincerity in others — The Kind of Place a Thief will Seek — Great or 
Intellectual Thieves, and Petty Thieves — How a Boy Thief stole a Pocket-Book — 
The Man who was Robbed on the Railroad Cars — Qualification for a Wholesale 
Thief — Policy Honesty — Genuine Honesty, and the Principle it springs from — How 
a Dishonest Person acts in general Conduct— The Policy Man — Signs of Honesty — 
The Consummation of Meanness — Qualification for Money-making — How the Poor 
can have and maintain their Rights — Signs of Honesty and Dishonesty in the 
Countenance — How Honest and Dishonest Men act — Selfishness — The Social Na- 
ture of Man Suffers through Dishonesty. 



WHEN Adam sinned, every faculty he possessed was affected by 
the fall. That is, he lost acuteness of perception, brilliancy, purity, 
and that power which perfection alone can impart. His intellectual, 
moral, and social natures were no longer perfect. His moral charac- 
ter was stained, his intellect blunted, and his social nature degraded. 
Man has never been able to regain his lost condition, and, though I 
have great faith in human progress, I fail to see how, or by what 
process, man can restore himself by his present ability. The differ- 
ent kinds of sin and temptation are too strong and numerous for 
fallen man to resist, and he needs the helping hand of his Creator 
to lift him out of the horrible pit into which he has fallen. If every 
man and woman in the world determined to give their whole energy 
to their physical, intellectual and moral improvement, and if all 
kinds of evil influences, temptations, and the Devil hinself, were 
withdrawn from man and the world, and nothing but pure and 
Divine influences operated upon man, such a thing as man's regain- 
ing his lost condition might be possible, though still questionable. 




A highway-robber. Note the rough and low organic quality; the large, thick, 
animal neck; the broad head between the ears, giving physical courage and force: 
also, the mean expression of the mouth, and the protruding under lip, indicative of 
an unkind and implacable disposition. 




A sneak-thief. A low nature, with a large development of the organ of human 
nature. Observe the mean and sneaky expression of the whole face, especially around 
the eyes; also, the peeping, half-shut eye. 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 85 

I am aware that some do not believe in a personal Devil. I shall 
not discuss that question here; but simply remark that to conceive 
of the existence of evil without some fountain-head, is like observ- 
ing an effect and denying any cause of it. Cause and effect are in- 
separably connected. Therefore, evil is the effect of some cause, 
and that cause is an intelligent being or spirit. It may be urged 
that evil is the effect of violated law. So it is generally; but are not 
all laws made by and for the regulation of intelligent beings? There- 
fore, the law was first violated by some intelligent and accountable 
being, and that being is called Satan. 

There are some persons who admit hereditary sin, but not sin 
inherited from Adam. Now, so far as we know concerning the 
human race, sin commenced with Adam, and it has never been' 
eradicated. And, as there has been no second perfect man and 
woman, it still remains in the human family; for I wish the reader 
to remember that Adamistic sin exists in the will and soul more 
than in the body, though the body suffers in consequence of it. Christ 
was perfect, but he did not leave any children, nor even marry; 
hence, if we inherit sin from our parents and grand-parents, they 
inherited it in like manner, from their ancestors, and so sin may be 
traced back to Adam. 
, It always seemed to me that many phrenologists, authors and 
lecturers, who advocate physical perfection, and who regard it as 
superior to mental and religious influence, begin at the wrong end. 

One of the principles of phrenology, and what I consider the 
fundamental principle, is, that mind molds and rules matter. Now, 
if this be the case, then the body is just what the mind makes it. 
All physical disease comes from excessive or deficient exercise of 
the faculties of the mind, either in the individual or in his ances- 
tors. The body of itself has no reason, choice, or will, not even 
desire. It simply takes or does what the mind directs. And if 
the mind was pure and perfect in mankind, their bodies would be 
the same. 

The fact that I wish to impress upon the reader is, that in all 
kinds of disease and sin, the mind, will or soul is the primary cause, 
though I admit the mind will vary its manifestations in different 
organizations, and that mind and body affect, act and react upon 
each other — the mind, however, always being the positive force, 
and the body the negative. Not only has man's entire nature suf- 



86 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

fered by the fall, but all his faculties are liable and prone to perver- 
sion or abuse. 

Perverted cautiousness will produce fright, terror and rashness, 
and do the very thing it ought not to. Excessive amativeness, or 
love, leads to perversion and causes licentiousness, sin and suffering, 
and when soured, turns to hatred and jealousy. Excessive venera- 
tion leads to bigotry and religious intolerance, and perverted wit 
turns everything into ridicule; perverted ideality, or imagination, 
conceives, admires and pictures images in the mind that are base 
and degrading, rather than beautiful, pure and elevating, and so 
with all the faculties. 

I remember examining a young man who had a very large organ 
of ideality, but his face did not have that pure, ideal or pretty ex- 
pression that the faculty of ideality imparts to it. I saw there was 
something wrong, and placing my fingers on the organ of amative- 
ness, I found it also very large; so I at once concluded he had been 
visiting immoral shows, such as low variety theatres; and, when I 
questioned him on the subject, he admitted it was so. Thus one of 
his moral sentiments had been perverted, and made to imagine and 
picture foul images for the mind and memory through a corrupt 
propensity. 

It is evident, then, that the only way man can cleanse his char- 
acter and control his passions, is to commence with his thoughts; 
regulate and control them, and you control and mold the whole 
character. Give no evil thought lodgment in your mind one mo- 
ment, but banish it as you would a viper, and there will be no danger 
of your becoming a victim of passion. But this is easier said than 
done, and easier practiced in youth than at any other time. Parents 
could not instil into the minds and hearts of their children any 
greater blessing than to teach them self-control by persuading them 
to control their thoughts. Alas! parents know very little about 
the thoughts of their offspring. They tell them to do some things, 
and not to do other things, but never in a confiding, loving manner 
try to ascertain what the current of their thought, is — what they 
think about most; and so, by continually thinking about some pet 
idol or object of their heart or fancy, the smoldering fire of passion 
is kindled, which burns away slowly, but surely, till some day it 
bursts out in full blaze, and consumes its victim. Whereas, if those 
wicked thoughts in youth had been stilled, the fire might have been 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 87 

extinguished, and the darling saved. O, mothers and fathers, you 
think you know all about your children; but the secrets of their 
hearts — their unexpressed thoughts — which are silently forming 
their future character, you know little or nothing about. Take 
them upon your knee, and in the most affectionate and confiding 
manner, persuade them to tell you what they think about most, 
what they love, and what they have the greatest desire for. Do not 
do it in an authoritative, commanding manner; you only repel them 
in that way. You must, as it were, court it out of them. When 
you know their thoughts and desires, you know how to train them. 
But children are generally left to grow up and think about what 
they please, and, the more evil they see and come in contact with, 
the more they think about it, and the more they become like it. 
And, although they may not do by act what they see others do, 
they will in thought; and finally thought urges them on to evil acts. 
Secret thoughts are the medium through which the Devil tempts 
mankind, and we give way to them the more readily because it is a 
species of sin and imaginary pleasure no other human being knows 
anything about. How many young persons there are just boiling 
over with amorous thoughts and desires; though, if you charge them 
with it, they would most likely deny it, because they feel ashamed 
to own up. Now, these desires will some day ripen into evil actions, 
unless morally satisfied. What is true of amativeness, is true of 
conscientiousness, that faculty which prompts men to do right, love 
truth, justice, equity and honesty. Conscience is not an instructor. 
It does not teach men what is right or wrong, only so far as it acts 
in connection with the intellectual faculties. The intellect first 
determines what is right, and conscience gives the impulse to do it. 
Conscientiousness, combined with veneration, renders man obedient 
to his Maker and his laws; combined with inhabitiveness, it will 
render him obedient to the laws of his country; and with conju- 
gality, will make him true and loyal to his marriage vows; combined 
with acquisitiveness and friendship, it will pay and exact payment 
of all bills, and discharge all business obligations in a just and 
straightforward manner. But with these conditions deficient it will 
not do so. Hence the most conscientious man in the world is not 
perfectly honest. He will be dishonest in some particular. There 
never was a person honest in every particular, since the fall of Adam. 
When he fell, conscience fell with him. So we find many people 



SS HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

scrupulously honest about some things, but indifferent about others, 
and yet, in the general acceptation of the term, we call them honest. 

Many persons appear, in the eyes of a suspicious, selfish man, 
dishonest, when in purpose or intention they mean to do right. 
Whereas, a person may be apparently honest, but in heart a regular 
thief or swindler. We must look beyond and behind apparent hon- 
esty or dishonesty for the reality. 

Let us first inquire what are the pre-requisites to honesty. There 
are three. The first in order is the organic quality, which is defined 
in the latter part of this book, among the organs and temperaments; 
the second is conscientiousness; and the third education. 

I would not give much for the strength and durability of any 
one's honesty who is deficient in the organic quality. He is too 
earthly and animal in his nature to resist powerful temptations. 
He who is deficient in conscientiousness lacks an innate sense of 
duty and obligation, and the motive power to do a thing or not to 
do it. 

Then conscience is not of much use unless it is educated. It 
will allow a person to do whatever education says is right. The 
heathen mother who throws her infant into the river Ganges is 
conscientious in doing so; and he who worships a block of wood, or 
any false God, instead of his Maker, believes he is doing right. But 
his sincerity does not make it so. 

Paul and the Jews thought they were doing service for God by 
persecuting his people. But when Paul's conscience became en- 
lightened, or better educated, he saw his mistake. 

Many religious people have thought they were doing right by 
persecuting and putting to death those who did not believe as they 
did. Just think of the Spanish Inquisition and the horrible instru- 
ments of torture that were used. The conscience of those religious 
tormentors of the dark ages was blinded by ignorance, superstition 
and intolerance. Still I often hear people say it makes no difference 
what you believe so long as you are sincere. How preposterous! 
As well say that it will not hurt a man to swallow poison if he sin- 
cerely believes it will do him good. Guiteau believed that the 
shooting of Mr. Garfield was a political necessity, but other people 
do not think that his belief justified the act, nor does the law rec- 
ognize such excuses. One man may believe he is doing right in 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 89 

killing another, as is sometimes the case, but the law and the peo- 
ple step in and hang him for carrying out his belief. Any person 
with two grains of common sense ought to know that belief and 
sincerity does not alter facts nor change either mental or physical 
laws. Peter was sincere when he defended Christ with his sword, 
but his sincerity did not make his act right, and he was quickly told 
to put his sword into its sheath. 

So I use the word education here as applied to the faculty of 
conscientiousness — not the intellect merely, although the conscience 
has to be educated through the intellect. To be honest, and have 
correct views of right and wrong, one must have these three con- 
ditions in equal force and well developed. 

Honesty and dishonesty are partly the result of proper or im- 
proper education, training or influence brought to bear on one's 
conscience. When children see honesty in their parents, and are 
taught to practice it, and men and women see honesty in others, 
and learn to imitate it, that is being educated to honesty. 

When children grow up under the influence of dishonesty, and 
are constantly made to feel that to be honest is a weakness rather 
than a virtue — that they cannot get rich by that kind of policy — 
they are practically taught to be dishonest. So it is really the ed- 
ucation of the faculties that determines their action for good or 
evil, more than the size of them. 

Let two persons be raised under similar circumstances, having 
precisely the same mental and physical organization, and they will 
think, feel and act differently, according as their education differed. 
All the faculties will manifest their power in whatever way or man- 
ner they are taught to act, and they can be taught and influenced 
in any direction. Veneration will worship any God it is taught to 
worship; faith will believe anything it is taught to believe; hope 
will expect whatever is placed before it; language will utter 
whatever words it is familiar with; amativeness will love either 
purely or sensually; and conscientiousness will approve of any 
act, whether right or wrong, if taught and influenced by reason 
or custom. 

This kind of education is not all accomplished in one life. It is 
hereditary, and may take generations to produce a complete re- 
formation of character. Hence a notorious thief, swindler or villain 



90 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

is not so entirely from the force, education or circumstances of his 
own life, but lias inherited its starting power or propensity from 
one or both of his parents. 

People do not become dishonest suddenly. They go through a 
hardening process. Even persons who have borne an honest repu- 
tation all through their previous life, up to a certain period in their 
history when they have committed some dishonorable and criminal 
act, have been silently preparing themselves to commit the deed 
for months, and sometimes years, or half a life-time. And this has 
been accomplished by a weakening and degrading influence upon 
the faculty of conscientiousness, from the selfish or passional facul- 
ties, which has been increasing in activity and growing stronger and 
stronger, till it has completely mastered the conscience- and will. 
So, in determining a person's honesty, it is not sufficient to as- 
certain how large that organ is, but how large are the selfish and 
animal propensities — what class or set of faculties have the ascend- 
ancy. If the moral predominates over all others, then honesty can 
be relied upon. But if the selfish sentiments and animal propensi- 
ties control the whole character, large conscientiousness is liable to 
give way whenever a strong temptation presents itself, though the 
individual may afterwards repent. 

To measure a person's honesty, therefore, we require to know 
the strongest desire in his nature. It is likewise necessary to know 
in what way, and under what influences, the faculties have been ex- 
ercised and educated. If it is the gratification of passion, pleasure, 
dress, taste, display, parade, style and ambition, then his honesty is 
in great danger. But if integrity, fidelity, purity of character, hos- 
pitality, and love of everything that is noble and elevating are 
uppermost in his mind, and constitute the chief aim of his life, the 
person is scarcely tempted to be dishonest, much less guilty of it. 
But men differ in their ideas of honesty, and some are very honest 
about some things, but dishonest, or at least indifferent, about 
others, which phrenology alone can explain. 

For instance, a person having large moral organs, but deficient 
acquisitiveness would be very sensitive in regard to general honesty, 
such as relates to moral principle, intention, purpose, motives, and 
a sense of duty and obligation, but is liable to be careless and indif- 
ferent in regard to business transactions and the payment of bills. 
If benevolence was very large, such a person would probably give 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 91 

away what belonged to another; and with large veneration, would 
feel a sense of guilt for the neglect of religious duty. If, on the 
other hand, acquisitiveness was large and the moral faculties only 
average, the individual may be very particular and prompt in the 
payment of bills and the discharge of all business obligations, as far 
as it would be in his power to do so, and would expect others to do 
the same with him — but, at the same time, dishonest in purpose, 
motives, and general principles of moral equity and justice, and feel- 
ing indifferent to Divine laws and religious ordinances. And soon, 
through man's mental nature, conscience manifesting itself as it is 
acted upon by other faculties and combinations. 

Thousands of naturally honest young men, who occupy positions 
of trust and responsibility, become in time dishonest, because a 
strong desire for fashionable life, with a love for gambling, drink and 
fast women, have made greater demands than their salaries would 
meet, and so led them to rob their employers. I heard of a bank 
cashier whose wife was an actress, and wanted an expensive ward- 
robe. His salary was not sufficient to keep her dressed for the stage, 
so he began to steal from the funds of the bank till he finally be- 
came a defaulter to the extent of about eighty thousand dollars. Busi- 
ness men, therefore, in engaging help, instead of asking for references, 
should find out what their largest faculties are, and their associations 
in life, and thus learn theirnatural tendencies. Recommendations are 
not a guarantee of character; they only show what reputation a per- 
son bears, so far as he is known, while the hidden or concealed char- 
acter may not have come to light, and will not until temptation or 
circumstances bring it out. Bad characters, with a little shrewd- 
ness, can manage to get good recommendations and give good 
references. I have had persons come to me with recommendations 
that were not worth the paper they were written on. 

Persons who are constantly traveling or passing on the reputa- 
tion or recommendations of others — who are continually referring 
to some acquaintance of note and prominence in society or business 
circles, are not the most trustworthy, as they generally lack strength 
and force of character, and sometimes morality. They should be 
kept at arm's length until you thoroughly know and understand 
them. 

When you meet a young man who is constantly boasting or 
talking about his ancestry, the standing in society of his relatives, 



92 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

and what they are worth, or what they have done, rest assured that 
he is building his character upon a sandy foundation. He is of no 
service to himself or the world. 

When you meet a young lady who is constantly talking about 
and admiring the fashions, balls, parties, amusements and light lit- 
erature, you may be sure she has rooms to rent in the upper story; 
will never make a good wife; will spend all the money she can lay 
her hands on, and will not be particular how it is obtained, so long 
as she has the use of it. 

Beware of the individual, whether man or woman, who persist- 
ently, though gently, and sometimes slowly, aims to ingratiate him- 
self or herself into your favor or confidence and good will. They 
seldom take advantage till they get a favorable opportunity, and 
then they bite like tigers. I mean such persons as make a business of 
forming intimate acquaintances for selfish and base purposes. And 
the reader must use his or her faculty of human nature to distinguish 
between genuine and spurious friendship, for these evil-doers gen- 
erally accomplish their mean acts under the robe of friendship. 

Assumed friendship can generally be detected by the way such 
persons act. Their little unguarded actions will generally reveal 
their true character and expose their motives and secret intentions. 

A person who is sensitive to mental impressions can feel and 
perceive honesty and sincerity in others; and the insincerity of 
persons will be likewise impressed upon his mind. Men having 
large acquisitiveness are not the persons to trust with large sums 
of money, especially if secretiveness is large and the moral faculties 
only full. They should not be exposed to temptation unless closely 
watched. But a man having large conscientiousness and the or- 
ganic quality, with only average acquisitiveness and secretiveness, 
may be trusted with any amount, without any restraint or watching; 
because, in the first place, they have very little love for money, and, 
secondly, they are far above dishonesty in that respect. Their tastes 
and aspirations are for something higher and nobler, and they sel- 
dom, if ever, seek public office or position where financial responsi- 
bility is involved. The men who seek fat public offices are generally 
just the men who ought not to get them. The very faculties and 
propensities that prompt them to seek such offices are the ones that 
render them unfit for such positions of trust. 




JUDAS ISCARIOT. 

From a Painting by Holbein. 

As to how much of a likeness this is of Judas I cannot say. It is certainly a strongly- 
marked Jewish face, especially the nose; and the facial form and expression indicates a 
mean, stingy and treacherous disposition. Note how the point of the nose hooks and 
droops almost on a level with the mouth; such natures are invariably deceitful or treach- 
erous, and generally mean in their business dealings. A nose so convex and hooking as 
the above cut represents, is essentially selfish; and the friendship of a person with such a 
nose is rather shallow. The eye so small and flat expresses a small, mean, pinched-up 
sort of a soul; apt to be very secretive and cunning. The mouth reveals a common, 
coarse, vulgar mind; a decided lack of the sesthetical nature; and such a head of hair 
denotes a rough, slovenly organization, mentally and physically. I would no more think 
of taking such a face as the above into partnership with me than I would think of com- 
mitting suicide. 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 93 

A thief will always seek the place that gives him the most free- 
dom and trust, so that he can better exercise his thievish propensi- 
ties. Great thieves are generally very intelligent and smart men, 
because their animal propensities have brought the intellect into 
subjection, so that the individual uses all his intellectual powers in 
connection with acquisitiveness and secretiveness. Whereas, the 
selfish propensities ought to be in subjection to the intellect, and 
impart to it power and force. Intellectual thieves do not bother 
with little things; they think, plan and scheme, and use all their 
physical powers to accomplish some grand swindle or public plunder. 
Petty thieves are less intellectual; they are ignorant, but often re- 
ceive more punishment than wholesale thieves, because they have 
not intellect enough to escape the law, and do not steal enough to 
pay intellectual lawyers to defend them. 

The sneak thief, however, is a great annoyance to the public 
and individuals, because it is difficult to watch him or catch him. He 
steals like a cat — takes things behind your back and when you are 
least expecting such a thing. Still there is something in the man- 
ner and actions of a regular and promiscuous thief (that is, one who 
steals anywhere and everywhere he can find a chance) independent 
of his looks, that is sufficient to excite a person's suspicion and put 
him on his guard. As a rule, a thief is restless and uneasy in his 
movements, especially if he operates on the streets and in public 
places, because he fears detection and arrest, and never knows the 
moment an officer will lay his hands on him; hence he is in constant 
fear, and in spite of his effort to control himself so as to appear hon- 
est, his excited organ of cautiousness makes him nervous, watchful 
and uneasy in his movements. 

All thieves are forward, bold and venturesome, prying into per- 
sons' affairs, and pushing themselves into places where they have no 
business. Like a young girl I met in a hotel only fourteen years old. 
As soon as I saw her in the parlor I concluded there was something 
wrong about her. After watching her a little while I told the pro- 
prietor I thought she was a little fast, and would steal if she got a 
chance. Before she left the house she stole something out of one 
of the boarders' rooms, and her actions proved her to be far from a 
modest girl. She got intimate with the chambermaid and went 
into the various rooms when the beds were being made up. In that 
way she had a chance to see what trinkets or jewelry was lying 



94 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

around on the bureaus or in the drawers. And whenever you see 
or hear of any one going into your own or other persons' rooms in 
their absence, unless there is some particular reason for their doing 
so, such a person will bear watching. In a boarding house I once 
stopped at in Philadelphia, two men were having a warm discussion 
at the dinner table. One of them had been in the habit of going 
into his neighbor's room and helping himself to little things when 
he was absent, without saying anything about it. Nearly all thefts, 
robberies and burglaries are committed in a similar way. The thief 
or his accomplice first finds out where money or goods are located, 
makes a careful examination in a sly, quiet way of the house or store, 
and the doors or windows in it, then plans and waits for a favorable 
opportunity to commit the act. So, when you find a man or women 
quizzing you about your private affairs, or carefully noticing the 
arrangement of your house or store, look out and be on your guard. 
A beautiful woman once called at my office and wanted to know if 
I were not doing pretty well and making lots of money. I imme- 
diately divined a motive back of her question, and told her I man- 
aged to make enough to pay for my board. She left and never 
troubled me any more, but almost ruined a prominent lawyer and 
his son, not by direct stealing, but by getting them under her influ- 
ence and power. There seems to be no end to the innumerable 
ways and means dishonest people resort to in order to get money 
without labor, and no matter whether they steal it outright or get 
it in an indirect manner, they are all thieves. 

Never unnecessarily show your money in a promiscuous crowd, 
in a railway car, street car, on a steamboat, or in any public place, 
not even in private or in your own house before your servants, for 
though your servants or help may be honest, they are poor, and 
you thereby unintentionally tempt them, and if they are not honest 
the temptation is all the stronger, and if you do it in a public place 
and there happens to be a pickpocket, you may expect to loose 
your money unless you keep your hand on it. A young lady in 
Chicago went to the door in answer to the bell, and received from 
a boy a small bill for collection. While the boy waited in the hall, 
she went into the parlor and got her mother's pocket-book from off 
the mantel-piece, and in the presence of the boy took out enough 
money to pay the bill, and handed it to him, leaving twenty-five dol- 
lars in the book, then left it on the mantel-piece again, and hurried up 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 95 

stairs. A little while afterwards her mother wanted her pocket-book, 
and on looking for it found it was gone. The boy saw the money, 
watched the young lady from the steps replace it, then slipped in 
and stole it after she left the rooms. 

There are many persons, even in civilized society and countries, 
whose moral sense is so weak and the organic tone so low, that they 
look upon stealing more as a business than a crime, and to unnec- 
essarily expose money or jewelry before them is not only a lack of 
common sense, but downright criminal carelessness and thought- 
lessness. An event that will illustrate this point occurred at a pic- 
nic in one of the southern states. A vain mother had richly dressed 
her seven year old girl and decked her in jewels, among them 
being a costly diamond pin. She was left to roam about the pic- 
nic grounds as she pleased, and finally wandered off to a secluded 
place where she was out of sight of the company, when a low-bred 
negro saw her and the jewelry and robbed her, and then to hide his 
crime or identity, killed her. Meanwhile, the little girl was missed 
and searched for by her father. Suddenly he was horrified to see 
a muscular negro with the dead body of his dear child hurrying 
toward the river bank. A severe struggle ensued between the 
father and the murderer for the body of the child, till cries for help 
brought others to the rescue, when the negro was overpowered, 
and, according to southern style, hung to a tree. Now, while every 
rational person will admit the criminal should have been punished 
bylaw (not lynch law), the moral nevertheless stands out bold that, 
if the parents of that child had displayed more good sense and judg- 
ment and less vanity, the child would not have been robbed, much 
less killed. A picnic ground is hardly the place for the display of 
diamonds, especially when children are left to run around unpro- 
tected and in danger of meeting all sorts of characters. 

Whenever you find one or more persons crowding against you in 
any public place or conveyance, be on your guard; that is the time 
thieves do their work, and the game they sometimes play to do it. 
As in the case of a gentleman who was traveling on the cars, and 
had taken considerable money with him to buy goods with. He 
very foolishly displayed his money while sitting in the car, and 
after arriving at his destination when he looked for his pocket- 
book it was gone; then he remembered that just before he left 
the car three or four men crowded against him so forcibly that he 



g6 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

gently rebuked them for it, but never suspected their motive till it 
was too late. 

A man in whose brain the selfish and animal propensities are 
predominant, with the intellect next, and plenty of vital stamina, 
and the moral faculties well in subjection, is well qualified for a 
wholesale thief; he is hard to catch, and, if caught, still harder to 
punish; and how much better is a smart, intelligent lawyer, who 
knowingly defends a notorious thief, than the thief himself ? Petty 
thieves generally come from the common and low class of society, 
but defaulters and wholesale thieves come from a more respectable 
and higher class of society. 

The fact that so many criminals go unpunished, or nearly so, 
shows that conscientiousness in the officers of the law, and the 
community too, is weak, or else force, execution and courage are 
deficient, or perhaps both. Where firmness, conscientiousness, 
combativeness and destructiveness are large, criminals are apt to 
get their just deserts; but where benevolence and acquisitiveness 
are large, and conscientiousness only average or full, criminals are 
let off very easily. 

Some are honest because they think it policy to be so; that is, 
they are not honest from principle or the love of it, but from selfish- 
ness, because it pays better; and, when it don't pay them to be hon- 
est, they pocket their conscience, and resort to policy, shrewdness, 
trickery and underhanded dealing — the outgrowth of secretiveness. 
Such persons, though apparently honest, are thieves at heart. 

Honesty springs from that principle which is loyal to truth and 
righteousness, and has nothing to do with worldly policy. Honesty 
and policy are opposite terms. You can tell an honest person by 
his conversation and manner of doing business. An honest man or 
woman is frank, open-hearted, outspoken, free in manner and the 
expression of their thoughts and ideas, and in business will show up 
things, and represent them just as they are; will have one price and 
stick to it; do not equivocate and hesitate, and beat around the bush 
half an hour before they can say or do a thing; do not act in a mys- 
terious manner, and make enigmas of themselves, nor become a 
Chinese puzzle to nearly every person they become acquainted with. 
Such persons are not, and can not be, honest in motive and purpose, 
if they are in their actions. 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 97 

A dishonest person or one who acts from mere policy, is cunning, 
evasive, sly, double-faced, snaky, slow to speak and express himself, 
indefinite in statement and ideas, restrained in manner or action, 
draws a veil over his whole character, assumes much external polite- 
ness, and even smiles on you if he sees a chance to make anything. 
He seldom, if ever, laughs heartily, is afraid to speak or act without 
first thinking how he will do it, cannot look you steadily in the eye, 
and will endeavor to throw you off your guard by saying one thing 
and meaning another; will perhaps say a few things about himself, 
in order to draw out your secrets, but take good care to say noth- 
ing about himself which is of any importance; will gain as much 
confidence from others as he can, but retain his own; will expose 
confidence placed in him, if to his advantage to do so; or, if he has 
any dislike against those who have confided in him, will tattle 
behind their backs or in their absence. 

Trust no such persons, even if they are friendly to you, for their 
hearts are as unreliable and changeable as the winds and waves. In 
business they always put the best side out, cover up defects, have a 
price to suit the buyer and not the value of the article, always make 
the sharpest bargain they can, pay as little and receive as much as 
possible for all kinds of merchandise, sell some articles low and 
make up on others; take advantage wherever they can, but never 
give any, unless as a bait; impose on persons in straitened cir- 
cumstances; misuse and plunder those who are financially in their 
power, and like a cat watching a mouse, try to prey upon money, 
property, and perhaps a business that some other person has lab- 
ored hard to build up; are vulture-like and eagle-like to grasp what- 
ever comes within their reach, regardless of the rights and feelings 
of others. 

The policy man will make goods out of poor material and by 
unskilled laborers, and still sell them for the best price he can get; 
will put in low contracts to secure a job, and then slight the work 
to make money out of it; will even jeopardize human life, erecting 
and constructing that which is unsafe, in order to make something 
out of it. Policy has nothing to fear, lose or sacrifice, but every- 
thing to gain in whatever way and under any circumstances most 
convenient. 

Policy is so prevalent and honesty so rare that a genuine honest 
man is often mistrusted, suspected, and even arrested, because the 



98 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

policy man judges everybody by himself. He has never looked 
through an honest telescope, and he really does not know how hon- 
esty looks, acts or manifests itself. Many a man often appears dis- 
honest in a business point of view, because he lacks definite or 
distinct ideas of business or business principles. Business is foreign 
to his nature. Especially is this the case with artists, poets, liter- 
ary men, and those adapted to the higher pursuits of life. 

A rogue at heart may present an external appearance of hones- 
ty, while one who is honest at heart may, in some things, appear 
dishonest; and when one person accuses another of being dishonest 
without sufficient cause or evidence, he is generally the most dis- 
honest himself. 

Familiarity or intimate acquaintance with an honest person 
ripens into respect, but with a policy person it frequently creates 
contempt. 

Policy creates fear, distrust and suspicion concerning one's neigh- 
bors — makes men almost afraid of their own brothers, and produces 
universal distrust; makes church members doubtful of each other's 
piety, and society and church organizations wickedly jealous of each 
other. 

Another sign of honesty is, that when an individual has done 
wrong through temptation or any other cause, and has become con- 
vinced of it, he will repent and do better, or restore what has been 
wrongfully taken, if in his power to do so, or make just and ample 
restitution for any injury inflicted, whether of a private, social or 
public nature. He who has injured another's feelings, will seek 
reconciliation; he who has tarnished his neighbor's good name will 
aim to restore it to its former brightness; and he who has robbed 
the public treasury will try to pay it back. 

It is not so much the actions that constitute the character as 
the motives that prompt the acts. Man would judge his fellow-men 
by their actions, but Divinity by their motives. 

Acts and words are not always indicative of the hidden motive. 
If all men were honest in thought, word and deed, wealth in this 
world would be more equally distributed. As it is, there are too 
many human sharks ready to gobble up another man's hard-earned 
wealth or self-made business. They use every kind of force and 
stratagem to get from another what they have no claim upon for 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 99 

the least remuneration possible, and then coolly inform their un- 
suspecting victim that the little they have given has been through 
kindness and friendship. 

The consummation of all meanness is for the mighty in any 
sphere of life, financially, socially or intellectually, to oppress or 
take advantage of the weak because they have the power to do so; 
and for those who have risen in life to kick those who are falling. 
If all men had equal desires and ability to gain wealth and property, 
all would be equally rich, or at least in about equal circumstances; 
but this is not the case. All have not the desire, to say nothing 
about the difference in ability. Some prefer to fill their minds more 
than their pockets — to lay up mental, enduring treasures, and to 
become benefactors to their race, rather than spend all their time 
and energy for selfish purposes or lay up a fortune to ruin their 
children with. Better give them a sound constitution and good 
education, and let them make their own fortunes, and then they 
will know better how to spend them. 

It does not require any great amount of intellect or education 
to make money. Intellect seeks higher and nobler pursuits than 
money-making. Very often men with little brains and less educa- 
tion will make money easily, while an intelligent man will almost 
starve; though an intelligent man is the best financier, and, with 
the animal propensities, can make the most money. 

When a man gives his whole energy and talent to money-mak- 
ing, what is to hinder him from doing it, especially if he pockets 
his conscience and shaves everybody he can ? Wealth is seldom 
obtained honestly. Somebody has lost and suffered; for what is 
one man's gain is generally another's loss. I do not say that it can- 
not be acquired, to a reasonable extent, honestly; but that is the 
exception, not the rule. When all men rise to an intellectual and 
moral level, we may look for an equal distribution of wealth, but 
not before. 

No thoroughly honest man- — one who gives value for all he re- 
ceives, and pays every man according to service rendered, and never 
in any way takes advantage of individuals or the public, can ever 
amass millions upon millions in the few years allotted to human life. 

The best thing poor people can do to maintain their rights is to 
educate themselves; and by education, I mean the culture of their 
whole nature — every organ and faculty they possess, whether phys- 



IOO HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

ical, mental, social, moral or animal; and by animal, I do not mean 
perverted animalism, but those animal propensities which make 
men provide for the wants of the body, and give force and execu- 
tiveness to their character — the very thing poor people do not use, 
unless it be in quarrelling and fighting. 

Men whose chief desire is to be rich cannot, in the very nature 
of things, be honest, at least in purpose or motive. Therefore, when 
men devote their whole souls to money-making, they proclaim 
themselves thieves, because such persons always want more of this 
world's goods than is their proper share. They will never be satis- 
fied. The more they get, the stronger the passion grows, and their 
thirst for wealth knows no bounds — to them no sound is so musical, 
no sight so charming, as that of money. So, when acquisitiveness 
becomes abnormal, conscientious scruples give way, and they are 
bound, if they can, to gain what they desire. But what right has 
one to a thousand times as much as another, unless he gives an 
equivalent for it ? What right has he to devote his whole mind to 
one thing till he becomes insane on that point? — robbing his own 
soul and body of proper care and provision — robbing his Maker 
and society of their claims upon him ? So, even if he gets his 
wealth honestly, he is dishonest in other respects. 

Reader, would you like to look and feel and live like an old 
miser? Is there anything noble-looking, intelligent, refined or 
beautiful in the countenance of such a person ? Just the reverse. 
They look like the last rose of summer, which has nearly dried up. 
They are the most dilapidated-looking specimens of humanity one 
wants to see, and their souls are in as bad a condition as their bodies. 
They enjoy little or nothing. Life and nature are dead, or fast 
asleep, and suffering humanity may die also, for all they care. Their 
sense of moral obligation and responsibility has been stupefied. 
Stinginess has coiled itself around their hearts like a serpent, and 
all noble desires and generous impulses have been crushed out. 
Men cannot look healthy, bright and amiable, except the faculties 
are purely and honestly exercised. 

Honesty and dishonesty hang out their appropriate signs upon 
the c^trrTfenance, and they are no more alike than darkness and 
daylight. Honesty gives a plain, open, noble, speaking expression. 
Every look and feature is one of frankness, and you can seem to 
read the very thoughts or minds of such persons from their coun- 




MR. SHOREY, a Baltimore Photographer. 



A plain, unassuming, common-sense man. He is one of the most neighborly, liberal, 
social and good-natured men I have met in my travels. Some people are honey and 
smiles to your face for a few moments, but in reality glad when they see you make your 
exit from the door. This man is not one of that kind, and though the face shows a serious 
and somewhat harsh expression, there is an honest, earnest, always-the-same, kind of look 
mingled with it, hence he never pretends to be what he is not. 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. IOI 

tenance, especially during conversation. They always look you 
steadily and straightly in the eye, unless very bashful, and that is 
easily observed. The faces of dishonest persons are all riddles. 
The more you look at them and study them, the more you are puz- 
zled. They throw a vail over their faces — do not like to be scruti- 
nized closely, have a mean-looking expression, a concealed, reserved, 
sly way with them during conversation — look at you by glances, 
and not steadily, often have a watchful, restless appearance — lack 
that confiding, trustworthy, noble look so conspicuous in honest men. 

Honest persons speak the truth, tell you just what they think 
and mean, and are free to communicate. Dishonest persons evade 
the truth, lie, misrepresent, are not candid, say one thing and mean 
another. If some one they do not like calls on them, they will say 
they are delighted and happy to see them, when, in their hearts, 
they wish they had stayed away; or else have their servants lie for 
them, by saying they are not at home. 

Policy-honesty is a two-faced thing; it makes fair promises and 
pretensions in doing anything, but when the time comes, backs out 
or evades the matter. Like a man in Chicago who owned a house 
and lot, and had been using a vacant lot adjoining his, till one day 
the owner from the East was looking it up, and seeing the man at 
his gate, asked him whose lot it was. "Well," said he, "I do not 
know who the owner is, nor where he lives; I have been trying to 
find out for some time myself, as I have been using the ground and 
want to pay something for it, and would like to rent it." The stran- 
ger then informed him that he was the owner of it, but the man 
was not so ready or anxious to pay anything for it then. As long 
as the owner existed only in imagination, and remained in the East, 
he was willing to pay for privileges; but as soon as he came within 
paying distance, his show of honest ardor cooled down and vanished. 

These may be considered by many, little and insignificant things; 
but, as I have said before, it is. the little acts that reveal the char- 
acter, and he who will commit a small sin, and consider it of no 
importance, will commit a greater one when the opportunity is 
favorable and the temptation strong enough. That man or woman 
who will cheat and tell lies in games of amusement, will do so in 
the higher game of life. 

In fact, I fear many persons become conspicuously dishonest, 
and sometimes gamblers, by cheating in so-called innocent games, 



102 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

just for fun, and to show how smart they can be by displaying their 
dishonest propensities. It is a regular school discipline, that fits 
young people for lives of dishonesty. They may not steal, rob or 
swindle persons out of money or property, but they will practice 
deception, in their every-day life, in some form or other, for there 
is no end to ways in which dishonesty may be practiced without 
rendering one amenable to the laws of man. 

Honest people are honest in all they say and do, and show it in 
all their actions, though they may be more honest or particular 
about some things, which accord with their tastes, desires and edu- 
cation, than about others; and when they appear to be indifferent 
in reference to some subjects, it is not from any real intention to be 
so, but because they do not see and understand the importance, or 
have not a definite idea of the matter, and so fail to realize that 
they are dishonest. 

The most dishonest people in the world will be honest in busi- 
ness transactions up to a certain point or period; that is, so far as 
they deem it essential to their own interests to be so. Policy teaches 
them that they must be honest in some things and up to a given 
time; otherwise there will be no chance for them to practice dis- 
honesty, and reap a harvest. 

A thief in public office may, through policy, be honest for a long 
time, till he gains the confidence and good will of the community, 
so that he can make a clean sweep when he does steal. An em- 
ploye will discharge his duties honorably, and take an unusual 
interest in his employer's business, until he thinks he has done it 
long enough to give himself full play for plunder or to take advantage 
in some way, without awaking suspicion on the part of his em- 
ployer. I once had a man acting for me as agent. I was thoroughly 
convinced in my mind that he had very little principle, and was a 
shrewd dead-beat. Still, I wished to prove positively whether my 
impressions were correct, and so gave him a fair chance to show 
himself, taking care he only went so far. It only required about 
three weeks for him to play his little, mean, dishonest game. So 
long as he thought he could make anything out of me, he acted 
about squarely; but when that time ceased, in his estimation, his 
true character revealed itself. 

The moral to be learned from this statement is, trust people of 
doubtful honesty only as long as you have them in your power, or 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. TO3 

it is policy for them to be honest. Your judgment, circumstances 
and facts, in connection with a close observation of their little acts 
and expressions in conversation, must determine when this day of 
honesty is over or drawing to a close. 

Two men enter into partnership. One applies his mind to work- 
ing up or carrying on the business; the other to studying how he 
can obtain the largest share of the profits, or bounce his partner. 
And yet the disloyal partner may make the greatest show of 
honesty, as far as dollars and cents are concerned, and in general 
business transactions, because it is his business policy to be remark- 
ably square on business points, so that he can better take advantage 
of the other, who, perhaps, is, or has been, thoughtlessly careless 
in some things, especially when his mind has been engaged in the 
promotion of the business. 

Honest persons are generally unsuspecting of the motives of 
others, because suspicion, relating to business matters, which some- 
times arises from dishonesty, is foreign to their natures. Not prac- 
ticing mean tricks themselves, they do not think of it, or look for 
it in others, and on this account they are easily imposed upon, and 
are the class from which dishonest men seek to make gain. 

Honest people are therefore liable to be imposed upon, and, as 
some writer has said: "I could hardly feel much confidence in a 
man who had never been imposed upon," because the individual 
who is never imposed upon must be a sharp, wary, suspicious person. 

Dishonest persons are always suspicious of others, because they 
need watching themselves, and are therefore subjects of suspicion. 
Be cautious, then, of the man or woman who is always suspicious 
of and watching others. 

As a rule, impostors and humbugs are more likely to impose 
upon some person who is not friendly, or who they know suspects 
them, than they are upon those who use them well and have confi- 
dence in them. 

Individuals who conceal the truth and their motives in business 
transactions, will cry down and depreciate the value of goods, or a 
business, in order to buy at the lowest figure. They say it is naught 
until they have captured the prize, and then they sing another tune. 

All kinds of meanness is a species of dishonesty. How some 
persons show the littleness of their souls by their contemptible, 



104 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

selfish acts ! And if there is one respect more than another in 
which religious people do not allow Christianity to mold and renew 
their characters, it is in their individual peculiarities, arising from 
their selfish sentiments and animal propensities. It makes one 
appear small and unlovable in the eyes of mankind. 

The selfishness of some people beggars all description. There 
are no words in the vocabulary of the English language to explain 
or describe the ungrateful, inhuman, uncivilized, uncharitable, dis- 
respectful, sarcastic, humiliating, snubbing, tricky, and even treach- 
erous way some people have of treating each other, and all for the 
slightest offense. Touch their dignity, their sensitiveness, their 
peculiar notions and feelings, and they turn around and treat you 
as though you were a mere brute, unworthy of human consideration 
or notice. Persons that are properly educated, intelligent, and of 
good, honest disposition of heart and mind do not act so. It is a 
freak of nature. Persons who have more of the animal than the 
angelic, or even human nature about them, and who commit such 
disgusting actions, which are beneath the dignity of the true man 
or woman, are really to be pitied. They show in their very faces 
that they are oddities. But there are some who delight in mean- 
ness and all kinds of tricks of a business, social and moral nature, 
that sour the disposition of those they are practiced upon. It seems 
second nature to such individuals, and nearly every act and word 
they express carries poison to the soul or a dagger to the heart. 
They are spiritual murderers. We hang the individual who takes 
the physical life of another, and yet, in many instances, the murder 
has been committed through this kind of treatment. Aggravation 
beyond endurance has been the cause which actually tempted the 
criminal, perhaps for years, to commit the act, till his feelings got 
the better of his judgment. 

On the other hand, persons often murder through meanness; they 
are annoyed because they cannot do just as they please, and so 
have revenge to get even. The continual teasing and torment- 
ing of children cultivates a quarrelsome, hateful, revengeful and 
murderous disposition. 

Perhaps no part of man's nature is made to suffer more, through 
this kind of dishonesty, than the social — such as love, friendship 
and parental love. Many a man has been driven to a drunkard's 
grave through the tantalizing and unprincipled actions of the co- 



HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 105 

quette; and many a woman has been brought to shame and ruin 
through the deceitful talk and artful propositions of some scoundrel. 
Many children have turned out dishonest to their parents, and many 
a friend has been injured, or perhaps ruined, by the one he has be- 
friended — all through dishonesty of purpose, motive and actions. 

When a jury is empaneled to try a criminal, dishonesty shows 
itself in the selection of the men, particularly as far as the defense 
is concerned. They reject all intelligent and honest men, and se- 
lect those who are incapable of forming a logical conclusion, but 
are mere dupes, to be molded to suit the requirements of the case. 

I remember a farmer calling at my office one day, and stating 
that he had been called on a jury to try a notorious counterfeiter, 
but that the lawyer for the defense had rejected him, and he did 
not know for what reason. He was a man having a fine, moral, in- 
telligent and honest-looking face; and I at once informed him that 
he was too intelligent to be on the jury for that case, though he was 
really just the man who should have been there. 

How much justice can we have in our courts, when the jury are 
selected from a class of know-nothings, and with utter disregard of 
truth and honesty ? 

Dishonesty disregards all moral obligations, lives reckless of the 
requirements of law and order, and is unconcerned regarding the 
rights or interests of others. 

I remember, a long time ago, of driving past a field of wheat, 
and, seeing a cow in it, I called to the neighbors living by the side 
of it (for it extended to the roadside), and informed them of the 
fact. The reply I got was, "Oh, that is not our wheat; it belongs to 
Mr. H ." It was quite evident to me that they had studied self- 
ishness more than moral philosophy, or even neighborly generosity. 
They certainly did not believe in being their brother's keeper. 

Dishonesty quibbles in dealing or buying, tries hard to beat down 
and make a hard bargain, or get something thrown in extra — raises 
all kinds of objections and finds fault without just occasion. 

The besetting sins of persons cause them to commit dishonest 
acts when they would otherwise be honest. Men having a strong 
passion for drink, gambling, women, fast horses, and wild specula- 
tions will require considerable money to spend or invest, and if their 
salaries or incomes are not large enough to meet their demands, 



106 HONESTY AND DISHONESTY. 

they resort to unfair means of getting it. Men do, under the influ- 
ence of passion, what nothing could tempt them to do when they 
are not thus influenced. 

For a man or woman to conquer and control a strong passion, 
requires a great amount of principle and indomitable perseverance. 
The organs of firmness, conscientiousness, approbativeness and the 
organic quality must be large. 

Let me impress upon the reader that honesty runs through man's 
entire nature — is not confined to business transactions, but extends 
to every act, thought and motive that transpires in one's life. And 
a truly honest man or woman is the noblest type of human nature; 
because, as I have said before, to be honest one must have a large 
share of the organic quality to lift him above his animal nature and 
surrounding temptations. 

Honesty never misconstrues another person's motives; never 
misrepresents statements; will relate things or facts as it hears them 
without knowingly or intentionally changing them; but dishonesty 
will add a little to, or take a little from, a story, so as to make the 
thing appear in a different light. 

Honesty will always advertise its business in a plain, straight- 
forward manner. But dishonesty resorts to many little tricks — 
employs humbugs, sails under false colors, makes liberal offers, so 
as to draw people in, and then takes advantage in some way to make 
up for their liberal offers; will sometimes misrepresent their nation- 
ality, attach some foreign or high-toned name to an article of mer- 
chandise or art, and call it a new thing or style, when it is only a 
modification of something out of date. 



THEORY AND PRACTICE. 



What True Theories are Founded upon — What Practicality arises from— Location of the 
Theoretical and Practical Organs — The Difference between the two Classes — Qual- 
ifications Essential to Scientific and Philosophic Investigation — Cause of Erroneous 
Theories among noted Philosophers — Why Scientific Men are generally Skeptical 
— Why Religious Leaders or Teachers are Frequently Opposed to Science — What 
Leads to Radicalism, Materialism and Sentimentalism — Intellectual Religion, True 
Religion, Ignorant Christians — How some Persons Pray — Long Sermons, Speeches, 
Prayers, etc. — The Sabbath-day — Neglecting one's Spiritual Nature — Why State- 
ments are often Misunderstood — Why the Ministry of Christ was Successful — Cause 
of Insanity. 



ALL true theories are founded upon facts; but, unfortunately for 
mankind, the world is full of theories that are formed from concep- 
tion, speculation and contemplation. Theory founded on fact is 
practical. No man can reason correctly unless his premises are 
right, nor can any one form a correct theory without having facts as 
a basis. 

Phrenologically speaking, theory arises from the reflective fac- 
ulties, and practice from the perceptive or observing faculties. 

The perceptive faculties occupy the lower portion of the fore- 
head, immediately over the nose and eyes. 

The reflective faculties are located in the upper portion of the 
forehead. Whenever the perceptives are the largest, men take a 
practical view of things — are great observers of whatever transpires 
around them; have a great desire to see, know, and examine any 
and every thing that is new to them, never resting satisfied till they 
know all — actually thirst for knowledge. Hence they gather facts 
from which to reason, and are more practical than theoretical — 
can execute, manipulate and carry into effect, or accomplish, better 
than plan, design, construct or organize. 

When the reflective faculties are the largest, their possessors are 
thinkers, reasoners, theorists — can plan, contrive, invent, originate, 
construct, organize; but the difficulty is that most of their plans are 
not practical, because their observing, knowing, fact-gathering fac- 



108 THEORY AND PRACTICE. 

ulties are not strong enough to mold and turn their ideas in the 
right direction. They fail to realize truth as it is; and so, by not 
starting right, they are wrong all through. 

These two classes of faculties manifest themselves in every con- 
dition of life, and show their advantages and disadvantages in every 
trade, profession, art, science, literary pursuit, or in whatever walk, 
calling or public career men are engaged. These differences are 
very conspicuous in religion and politics, and also in education; and 
perhaps one of the best illustrations of it can be found in school- 
teachers or instructors. One who has large perceptives can appar- 
ently teach more than he knows, because he knows how to present 
a thought, question, or any information to the minds of his pupils in 
the most favorable manner to be understood. He has also an insight 
as to the nature of the difficulties in the minds of his pupils when 
they fail to comprehend an idea, and so can adapt, present and 
illustrate it in various ways till it is comprehended; whereas the 
teacher who is deficient in the perceptives. though he may have very 
large reflectives, cannot teach what he does know. He may be a 
walking encyclopaedia, a regular storehouse of general knowledge; 
still, he lacks the ability to impart it to others, or to even make a 
practical use of it for his own benefit. 

There are plenty of persons in the world who are well informed, 
can converse with you on almost any subject, speaking two or three 
languages, and yet never amount to anything, nor accomplish any- 
thing, considering the superior educational advantages they have, 
in comparison with others. 

There are a few persons who cannot read their own writing, but 
there is a host of people who cannot work their own plans or make 
a practical use of their own theories. Ask them a question, and they 
know all about it — can argue you blind on the subject. In fact, 
what they do not know is not worth knowing. And yet, put these 
persons to the practical working of what they know so thoroughly,, 
and their inability is at once apparent. They are theorists, but not 
workers. On the other hand, good doers or workers are not gen- 
erally good theorists. But if the perceptives and reflectives are both 
large, then such individuals will generally have clear ideas of things 
— will be theoretical and practical combined, and capable of exer- 
cising great influence and doing much good, if backed by principle. 



THEORY AND PRACTICE. IO9 

But this large and equal combination is not common. There is gen- 
erally an excess or deficiency of one kind or the other. 

I have noticed that quite a number of those who come tome for 
an examination, are large in their perceptive faculties, especially in- 
dividuality; hence they want to know all about themselves; are 
anxious to know what others know of them or can tell them. Their 
curiosity leads them to investigate and open up the way to self- 
knowledge. Whereas people with small perceptives and plenty of 
conceit, do not care or want to know any thing more about them- 
selves, and so go through the world with their eyes almost shut. 
They look at things without seeing them, and hear things without 
hearing them. They pass through life on the same principle that 
I have seen teachers take children through an Exposition; march 
them along the aisles in double-quick step so that the poor children 
after they had passed through did not know much more about what 
the building contained than before they entered. They had seen 
everything in general, but nothing in particular. A large propor- 
tion of people are so shallow in their observations and in the inquir- 
ing, finding-out sort of talent, that they do not know what is trans- 
piring around them, or what is to be seen, or the peculiarities of the 
place or city in which they reside. I heard of a man who had been 
living in a certain house in Chicago for two or three years, and 
when an old friend met him on the street one day, and he invited 
him to call, he could not tell the number of his house. 

It is the perceptives that impart to men a scientific, investigat- 
ing cast of mind. Hence the ability to study the sciences. All sci- 
entific men have large perceptive faculties; for what is science but the 
investigation and application of truth and the laws of the universe? 

Science requires a searching, investigating mind — the ability to 
perceive the condition and nature of external objects. Philosophy 
requires abstract thought — inductive and deductive reasoning, 
the ability to determine the effect from the cause and the cause 
from the effect — which is the office of the reflective and theorizing 
faculties. Hence philosophers are great theorizers and speculators 
in abstract ideas. 

The great difficulty with many noted philosophers, and the cause 
of their ridiculous theories, has not been their want of reasoning 
power, but that they reasoned too much in proportion to their ob- 



TTO THEORY AND PRACTICE. 

servations and investigation of truth. Their perceptive were not 
as large as their reflective faculties, so they did not obtain proper 
or correct premises to reason from. In other words, their concep- 
tion overbalanced their perception. They reasoned too much from 
within, and not enough from without. 

Scientific men are generally skeptical — I mean religiously so — 
partly because it is the nature of science (as far as the study of it is 
concerned) and the perceptive faculties to give an inquiring, inves- 
tigating, and critical state of mind; and partly because they do not 
reason enough on morality and religion to balance their intellectual 
judgment, and as a result they are one-sided in their ideas. 

Religious people, especially the leaders, are often opposed to 
science, partly through jealousy that it will interfere with their doc- 
trines, partly because scientific men oppose them, and partly and 
mostly because they do not reason enough on science, or rather do 
not seek truth by its aid, looking at everything through a religious 
spyglass. Hence their intellectual judgment is unevenly balanced. 
Science and religion are in perfect harmony; it is only their advocates 
who are at variance, and they are so because they do not understand 
each other mentally, nor the theories they respectively advocate. 

Another difficulty with scientific men is, that nothing satisfies 
their minds short of positive facts. And the perceptive faculties do 
not work in connection with the religious faculties so much as the 
reflective do. The perceptives are necessary to aid man in provid- 
ing for his physical wants, and to furnish material to reason upon. 
It is evident, therefore, that these faculties draw the mind away 
from the religious faculties, and there is a lack of an innate percep- 
tion of religious truth. 

Whatever portion of the brain is the most largely developed, 
will produce the most mental activity. Those individuals in whom 
the reflective faculties are the strongest, want a religion of reason, 
and so their deluded souls reason out a religion to suit themselves, 
and if they have any strong passion in their nature, it will influence 
their reason to adopt a religion that will sanction or allow the free 
exercise of that passion. Large reflective faculties, with not much 
veneration and firmness, leads to religious radicalism, sentimental- 
ism, mere intellectual religion, and, with large benevolence and not 
much firmness, Universalism and liberalism. 



THEORY AND PRACTICE. Ill 

Large perceptives lead to materialism, and, with the propensities, 
will seek or form a religion that agrees with the senses, appetites 
and passions. 

The intelligent classes are fast drifting into intellectual and 
sentimental religion. Now, if such persons would exercise their 
perceptive faculties a little farther, they might, or ought to see that 
true religion does not arise from the intellect. Intellectual religion 
is cold, hard and heartless. There are separate faculties for relig- 
ious purposes, and the exercise of those only will bring one into an 
active religious condition. These faculties are dormant or inactive 
in unconverted persons, but when conversion takes place, they are 
active, and men feel and experience a new impetus in their nature 
and character which they never had before. Hence, people who 
try to worship God through faculties that were never intended for 
that purpose, make a great mistake. 

Religion, with all its attending pleasures and blessings, comes 
through faith and not through reason; through the religious or 
spiritual faculties and not the intellectual. What I wish to impress 
upon the reader is the fact that religion does not rise or spring from 
the reasoning faculties. One may be as profound as was Galileo, 
and have no genuine religion, nor even a desire for it. 

Slill, I do not say intellect is of no use in connection with relig- 
ion. It is of great importance. The more intellect a man has, the 
more power he has, and the more influence for good he can exercise; 
and the clearer, grander and larger will be his conception of God, 
and his laws and works. 

Ignorant Christians are not to be despised, but rather pitied. 
They need considerable forbearance, for they are neither theoretical 
nor practical; that is, they are not practical as far as ability to do 
or accomplish Christian work is concerned. They should be guided 
by the wiser class. A headstrong, conceited, ignorant member will 
sometimes stop the progress of a whole church. Conversion is the 
awakening and rousing of the dormant religious faculties by stimu- 
lation, excitement, or some external influence, into a state of life 
and activity. Spirituality or faith is the faculty that brings man 
into this happy relationship. It is the connecting link between 
him and his Maker, and establishes that soul-communion, which 
none but the Christian can enjoy. 



112 THEORY AND PRACTICE. 

When man fell, this is what he lost, most of all — communion 
with God. It has only been regained through Mediatorship. And, 
when conversion takes place, this faculty of faith recognizes and 
receives the Mediator, and this is the faculty through which con- 
version takes place. It is the faculty through which all kinds oi 
spiritual influence and manifestations operate. 

I hold that men cannot know or realize what religion is, unless 
they practice it. Theorizing on religion and practicing it, are two 
widely different things. A man may theorize on religion, as thous- 
ands do, without having any of it in his heart or nature; but I would 
like to see the individual who could practice it without having it in 
his heart. A great many who have it find it rather difficult to prac- 
tice it, not because it is a difficult thing to practice, but because of 
their besetting sins. Or, I would like to see the man who can prac- 
tice principle without possessing it. 

Men cannot represent and manifest that which they have not, 
nor perform those things they know nothing about or have not the 
idea how to execute. 

There is a great deal of theoretical trash and bosh introduced 
into religious meetings, especially prayer and experience meetings. 
Members get up and say things that have neither sense nor mean- 
ing, are neither theoretical nor practical, and which are, in many 
instances, a mere repetition of what some other member has just 
said, or what they have said themselves at some previous meeting. 
They are generally among that class of members who like to hear 
themselves talk, and are determined to have their say every eve- 
ning, much to the annoyance of others. It is just the same in all 
kinds of societies: there are invariably some two or more members 
who have more gab than sense, and if combativeness is large in such 
heads, they are always opposing everything that does not meet 
their approbation, and so raising discussions which sometimes break 
up the churches or societies to which these pests belong. But when 
the majority of the members are intelligent and peaceably inclined, 
these crooked sticks are made to know their places, and a little 
healing salve is put on their tongues. 

When lecturing in Saratoga one summer, I alluded to this fact; 
at the close of my lecture a talented Baptist clergyman arose and 
stated to the audience that I had exactly described a member of 



THEORY AND PRACTICE. 113 

his church. He said, "I always had trouble with that brother, as 
he was constantly objecting- to and opposing the wishes and efforts 
of other members as well as myself, till one day my wife came into 
my study, and said, 'John, I can tell you how to manage Brother 

' (and it takes a woman's ingenuity to know how to manage 

a man, especially when he is crooked and perverse); said she, 
'whenever you want anything done, or have something new to in- 
troduce, just tap him on the shoulder and call him aside, and 
consult with him on the subject, and tell him he is the man to take 
hold of it and bring it before the church.'" He took her advice 
like a sensible husband (for a man will do well to sometimes listen 
to his wife and follow her admonition, especially in judging of and 
dealing with human nature), and found that the soft-soap business 
worked like a charm, and he never had any more trouble with that 
balky, obstinate brother. Of course, it tended to flatter and culti- 
vate the man's conceit, but I suppose he had to choose between two 
evils, in one sense: either the bestowing of a little flattery, or hav- 
ing the peace and prosperity of the church interfered with. What 
that conceited, contrary member needed was a better knowledge 
of himself, phrenologically, then he would have seen he was in the 
wrong, and most likely corrected or restrained himself. 

There is another way in which many church members may be 
theoretical, but certainly not practical. I refer to their mode or 
manner of prayer. Really, such persons do not pray at all. It is 
more of an exhortation or discourse to the Lord. They go on to 
tell God about fifty things that are in the Bible, and transpired long 
ago; commencing in Genesis, they go through nearly the whole 
book. The true idea or meaning of prayer does not seem to be in 
their mind at the time. Prayer is a request, a petitioning for some 
blessing or gift, or an acknowledgment of blessings received. 

Still another thing that is anything but practical, and a fault 
common among preachers as well as their members, is that of mak- 
ing long speeches, prayers and sermons. Such persons evidently 
desire to make up in quantity what they lack in quality. Many a 
good sermon has been spoiled by ministers dwelling too long on each 
part, actually spoiling the very effect they are trying to make. As 
a rule, half an hour is long enough for a sermon. There is no sense 
nor need of preaching long, dry, tedious sermons. Better preach 
twenty minutes to a wide-awake, attentive audience, than forty-five 



TI4 THEORY AND PRACTICE. 

minutes to a tired, restless and inattentive, if not sleepy, audience. 
There are many (shall I say two-thirds ?) of the sermons preached 
and discourses delivered, lectures included, that fall upon the ears 
of the congregation like water upon a duck's back, because they 
are full of theory, but contain little or nothing practical. They 
seem to be preached or spoken to the air, rather than to the people. 
Their statements are neither applicable nor personal; they are mere 
essays, read off in a mechanical style, with an idea thrown out oc- 
casionally, for any person interested to pick up. 

It may be a theoretical idea, but it certainly is not a practical 
one, to do business and resort to amusements on the Sabbath day. 
Men not only sin against God, but against themselves. They really 
10b their own mental and physical natures. All men's faculties 
require exercise, otherwise they decrease in strength and size. The 
Sabbath is the day for the special exercise of the devotional facul- 
ties, and the fact that a large class of people do not exercise them, 
accounts for their indifference and aversion to religion. It is just 
as essential to man's well-being that his religious faculties should 
be exercised, as that any other class of functions should be put in 
play. True happiness consists in the proper and harmonious use 
of all man's faculties. And he who uses some faculties excessively, 
while allowing others to remain dormant, cannot, in the nature of 
things, have a character evenly balanced. 

What can be expected of men and women who entirely neglect 
their spiritual natures, and devote their whole minds, time and 
energy to physical and worldly acquirements? They are simply 
intelligent and refined animals. At least, their life consists chiefly 
in the gratification of their animal natures. Men need to develop 
their spiritual nature by exercise, just as much as they do their 
physical, and their reason requires to be moralized, as well as edu- 
cated. As it is, men are better educated to think and make money, 
than they are to pray, worship and give thanks. 

Is it possible that men have fallen so low as to resemble swine 
under an acorn tree, which keep on eating, but never look up to see 
from whence the acorns come ? It is thus with the man of the 
world who never exercises his spiritual or religious faculties. He 
continues to eat and drink, just like all other animals, but never 
looks up to see from whence his blessings come, or to acknowledge 
the Giver. They take all they can get, but never say, Thank you. 




THE SECRETIVE EYE. 

Secretiveness is shown in the half closed eyelids and very light eye. Such person^ 
seem to peep out at you like a cat. They keep their own counsel, are evasive and non- 
communicative in reference to their business, plans and purposes, as well as their general 
thoughts. Even their most intimate friends hardly know their mind. They are slow and 
careful in expressing themselves, and generally talk in subdued or soft tones of voice. 
This kind of secretiveness differs from that found in Negroes and Indians: their charac- 
teristic being artifice and cunning, rather than genuine secretiveness; for the Negro is 
joud, boisterous and demonstrative, and lets everybody know within range what is going 
on, which a secretive person always seeks to avoid. It is true they steal and do things on 
the sly, but that is the result of necessity, cunning and artifice. In the blonde complex- 
ions, where the light eye predominates, we find secretiveness proper; in the brunette or 
dark races, where the black or dark brown eyes predominate, we find a different kind of 
secretiveness. which verges into cunning, artifice and treachery. 



THEORY AND PRACTICE. II 5 

Such men and women go in for a good time. They remind me of 
a young woman whom I once heard express herself as favorable to 
a short life and a merry one. So long as their worldly path is full 
of pleasure and laden with the good things of life, they are appar- 
ently happy, and their days and hours glide merrily away, like the 
chimes of the marriage-bell that rings out its joyous tones to be 
heard only for a few moments, then dying away from the memory, 
leaving no trace behind. But let the storms of adversity sweep 
over the souls of these half-developed specimens of humanity, and 
their hearts quake with fear, their joys are gone, and life is dreary; 
and, like a ship upon the ocean without anchor, they cannot control 
themselves, nor resist opposing forces, and so they drift along in the 
downward current till they become total wrecks. 

The perceptive faculties perform a two-fold work. They not 
only observe facts, circumstances and the existence of things, from 
which the reflectives form theories, but likewise reduce these theo- 
ries to practice, and make them applicable to every-day life. Men's 
theories will be imperfect and useless, unless aided and applied by 
the perceptive faculties; and their observations will be of little use, 
unless the reflectives form theories from them. Both classes of 
these faculties must work together, like twin brothers. They con- 
stitute the intellect, and no person can be great intellectually who 
has not both divisions largely developed. 

Large perceptives make men clear, definite, precise, exact and 
pointed in their ideas, and in whatever they say or do. This is of 
great importance, for thousands suffer through their statement be- 
ing misunderstood, because either they or others have not spoken 
or repeated what they have heard in a clear and definite manner, 
and thus their expressions have been misconstrued. Hence the 
public often fail to comprehend the meaning of the statements of 
some public man, and, in consequence he is abused without mercy. 
If any organization or system is criticised, the individual members 
seem to think they are attacked, and so heap wholesale condemna- 
tion upon the person who may be thoughtlessly and carelessly 
misunderstood. 

How difficult it is to get people to repeat statements and explain 
things just as they hear and see them. They are almost sure to 
either add a little to or take something from the original statement, 
so that before it has o;one far, it is so worded as to mean almost the 



Il6 THEORY AND PRACTICE. 

opposite of what was intended by the first speaker. I presume 
many of the mistakes so made are due to the lack of perceptive power, 
because when that is deficient the real meaning intended to be con- 
veyed in a statement is apt to be overlooked or not noticed; hence 
the listener or reader attaches a meaning of his own, and so once 
the true meaning has been lost or construed to mean something 
else, it goes on gathering error till it becomes another story. 

If you hire a man to do something for you, and he has small 
perception, he is most sure to misunderstand your explanation, and 
do it just the reverse of what you wanted. So common a trouble 
is this that the only sure way of getting a thing done right is, to 
stand by the man and see that he does it. 

Much of the success attending the ministry of Christ was due to 
his large perceptive faculties. His practicality, combined with illus- 
tration, always secured for him an eager and attentive audience. He 
knew just how to adapt his discourse to the class of hearers he had; 
knew just what to say, and how to say it to the best possible advan- 
tage. He had no useless theories. What theories he had were 
drawn from facts founded on observation and positive knowledge. 
He drew his lessons and illustrations from surrounding objects and 
present circumstances. He always seized upon, or took advantage 
of favorable opportunities. Every occurrence and custom among 
the people was made use of in his discourses. The world has never 
seen nor furnished a better illustration of practicality. Would that 
his followers would imitate him in this respect a little closer, 
especially those whose business it is to imitate him as a preacher. 
Most ministers do not adopt Christ's style of preaching, by any 
means. They study themselves almost sick to compose a sermon 
according to the rules they have been taught in college, and then 
get up and read it off, as one would an essay. How much good do 
such sermons do the people, in comparison with what they might 
do, if prepared and delivered as Christ did his? 

The great master always talked to the people, and made each one 
feel as though he was being personally addressed. There were no 
sleepy-heads in his congregation, nor do we read of anyone jumping 
up and running away before the sermon was half finished. Why? 
Because the hearers were interested, and actually hungry to hear 
what he had to say. Then, I judge, Christ preached short sermons, 



THEORY AND PRACTICE. \\J 

and the most of them were probably given to standing audiences 
in the open air. 

Spurgeon's and Beecher's sermons have been happy illustrations 
of this practical style of preaching, and hence their great power and 
influence as preachers. 

One of the greatest advantages of practicality is, that it sees 
and turns to good account personally the lessons to be learned from 
the fortunate and honorable, or unfortunate and dishonorable 
careers of the past. If a man, through wild speculation, has ruined 
himself financially, the perceptive faculties take cognizance, not only 
of the fact, but the nature of it, and what led to it, and make a prac- 
tical use of the knowledge gained. If a great and prominent man, 
through extravagance, falls, bringing disgrace upon the whole coun- 
try, our perception teaches us to take warning, and avoid similar 
temptations. But alas! there are a vast number whose perceptives 
are not large enough to teach them to be influenced by the exam- 
ple of others, whether it be good or evil. They see persons walk 
over a precipice to certain destruction, and then do the same thing 
themselves. They are like a sea-captain who, seeing the signals ,oi 
danger where some other vessel has been wrecked and founderec^ 
guides his ship in a direct course, and runs it against the rocks. 

When some great man in society has fallen, theory makes great 
speeches over the affair, comments strongly on the evil course pur- 
sued, and the evils connected with the society in which such an 
individual moved and associated, and lifts the voice of warning to 
others against pursuing a similar course. But practicality does not 
wait till the man is down, but sees the evils of society, or the circum- 
stances surrounding him, and exposes to his view the rocks and 
quicksands of life. 

How strange it is that individuals and society have to be shocked 
and humiliated so often before they can wake up to the reality of 
their internal corruption ! Now and then a first-class scandal re- 
veals to people what is going on in the refined circles of high life, 
but the excitement soon dies away and the public pulse falls to its 
normal state, till again excited by some new development. The 
reason is their intellectual and moral faculties are not properly ex- 
ercised, whereas the passions and appetites are in a constant state 
of activitv and excitement. 



Il8 THEORY AND PRACTICE. 

Mental and physical laziness is the highway to crime, and he 
who would control himself and develop his whole nature must exer- 
cise all his faculties equally, or as nearly so as possible. 

The constant and excessive exercise of one or two faculties to 
the neglect of all the others, will produce insanity, for there are 
other kinds of insanity besides that generally attributed to the loss 
of reason. 

If a man's veneration is overtaxed and deranged, he will be in- 
sane on religion. If his amativeness is deranged, he will be insane 
on the woman question; and, with deficient cautiousness and con- 
scientiousness, and large or full destructiveness and combativeness, 
may commit rape. Deranged tune will make him insane in regard 
to music; and so with every organ of the brain. When a man gets 
to that point that he will rob his employer to get more money to 
spend on women and drink, he is either dead to principle, or some- 
what insane in that respect. 

Men who have lived uprightly all their lives do not become crim- 
inals in a day. They have gradually, though perhaps secretly,been 
educating or exercising their dissipating faculties and propensities 
for years, meanwhile weakening their intellectual and moral powers, 
till they resemble a dam that can no longer keep back the pressure 
of water, but suddenly bursts, flooding the whole country around, 
and sweeping everything before it. So, when the moral dam, or 
principle, is so weakened that it can resist the force of the propen- 
sities no longer, it gives way, and the flood of passion rushes in upon 
the soul, sweeping away the last vestige of manhood. 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 



The Two Forces of Nature — The Meaning of the Term Fast — Two Classes Represented 
— Appetite Created in the One leads to the Other — Abuse of Free-will — What Sin 
is — Inherent Principles of the Soul — Action — Love of Freedom — Desire — Love of 
Opposites — Curiosity — Acquisitiveness — Two Things Necessary to Cause a Fast 
Life — Temptation of Christ and Eve — Phrenological Characteristics of Fast Men 
and Women — Hereditary Causes — External Causes of a Fast Life: Attraction, Re 
pulsion, Evil Suggestions, Novel-Reading — How Novels are Furnished — Public 
Libraries — A Laundry Girl — Scandals — Parents Responsible for the Dissipation ol 
their Children — Evil of Advising them to Marry against their Will — How Elders of 
the Church fail to do their Duty — Heathen Caste — Long-faced Christians — What 
Christ Meant when He said to Peter, "Feed my Lambs" — Fallen Women — How 
they get into the Palace of Sin, and why they seldom return to a Life of Purity — 
Sad Case of two Women in Washington Jail — Why there are so many Prosti- 
tutes — Assignation Houses — The Tricks of Women to Excite Men's Curiosity and 
Amativeness — Women their own Seducers — King Solomon's Opinion concerning 
them — Some Prostitutes make good Wives — Why Woman is Woman's Worst Ene- 
my — Sly Fast Women — How they Operate — Restaurant Waiters — The Undercurrent 
of Society — A Class of Married Women who are too Liberal in their Sentiments — 
What Constitutes a Fast Character — Fast Men — Causes of their being so. 



THE GREATER THE PLEASURE, THE GREATER THE TEMPTATION. 

There are two forces which keep the earth in its orbit, known 
as the centripetal and centrifugal; and these forces seem applicable 
to human beings. There is a path or line in which the soul is 
destined to travel by its Creator, and to fly off in either direction 
involves ruin. Had men no other object or desire but to be good, 
worship God, and devote their whole time and energy to their relig- 
ious nature, or the exclusive use of the religious faculties, they would 
be yielding to the centripetal force, and men would fail to accom- 
plish their missions on earth. 

When, on the other hand, men entirely neglect religious exercise 
and the development of these faculties, they yield to the other force 
or law, known by astronomers as the centrifugal. It is the yielding 
to this latter mental force in man's nature that leads, or rather 
carries, men and women into a fast life — or, if not fast, then a life 
inconsistent in some other respect. 



120 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

In treating of this subject, my principal aim will not be to men- 
tion particular or personal instances, but rather the class that enters 
most largely into that kind of life, and the circumstances, conditions 
and motives that lead persons into it. 

To be fast does not necessarily imply sexual immorality, though 
a fast life often, if not generally, leads to that. Therefore the word 
fast may be considered to represent two classes; at least, I propose 
so to use it in the present treatise. 

Fast, in its mildest and most limited meaning, may be applied 
to that class of men and women, and especially the latter, who are 
gay, light-headed, inconsiderate, dashing, extravagant in money, 
dress, manner and ideas; given to worldly amusements and prone 
to high living, excess of pleasure and dissipation; but who are not 
vicious in their habits, nor given to vices, such as drunkenness and 
prostitution. 

The second and more extensive sense of the word includes the 
latter class, who do not "go so far, and no farther'' but let the reins 
of their passions loose, and throw off moral and modest restraint. 
They are in for what they call a good time, regardless of the conse- 
quences. They adopt the mottoes, "A short life and a merry one," 
"Let us eat, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die." Sometimes 
persons will practice fast life number one without falling into num- 
ber two, because circumstances check or prevent them from going 
any farther; and sometimes persons through misfortune or willful 
determination, will rush into number two fast life, without ever 
practicing the first. But, generally speaking, those who enter the 
first, find their way into the second. The appetite created in the 
first for that exciting kind of life and pleasure is never satisfied, but 
craves for more and more, until it leads its victim into the hell of 
the second. 

The abuse of what is called free-will or free agency is the avenue 
to a fast life. Free-will does not consist in persons doing just what 
they please, only so far as their actions and choice is in harmony 
with law and order and does not conflict or intrude upon or injure the 
rights of others. No one individual, except the Divine Being, has, 
or in the nature of things can have, unlimited and unrestrained free- 
will. In one sense man has freedom to do whatever he has the pow- 
er and ability to do — in the same sense that our first parents could 
and did eat the forbidden fruit. They exercised that unlicensed 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 121 

freedom by interfering with the free-will and law of their Maker. 
That kind of free-will is self-destroying, because it brings the indi- 
vidual who practices it into a state of bondage greater than their 
freedom. No created being of intelligence can possibly have the 
right of absolute free-will. Superiority rules over subordination. 

Sin, then, is unlimited and unrestrained free-will, which conflicts 
with the authority and rights of others, or is injurious to the physi- 
cal and mental nature of the one who exercises it. Therefore, fast 
men and women sin against themselves by overstepping the bound- 
aries of free-will, and bringing themselves into bondage, really de- 
stroying that very condition of mind they think they are exercising. 
To seek pleasure at the expense of principle is poor policy; to make 
the pursuit of worldly happiness the grand aim of life is to prostitute 
the powers of the mind and intoxicate the soul with infatuation 
and delusions, so that life is but a romantic dream. 

There are certain inherent principles in the soul, which, improp- 
erly influenced and exercised, are incentives or causes of a fast life. 
First: Action, perpetual motion, unrest. There is a restive desire 
in human nature to be continually active, either mentally or phys- 
ically. There is no such thing as perfect rest — that would be death. 
Men must do something; if not good, then evil. Second: Love of 
freedom, pride, prudence, choice; an inclination to think and act as 
they please without restraint; to go where they like, and do as 
they like; love of liberty; a dislike to prohibition. If you tell a 
person or a child not to do a thing, immediately there springs up 
a desire to do it, stronger than it was before being forbidden. It 
was the love of freedom that inspired the early American settlers 
to leave their native land; hence the outgrowths of freedom, person- 
ally, religiously and intellectually, in this country. Third: A de- 
sire for whatever pleases the senses or fancy; desire for knowledge; 
that kind of feeling which longs for more, and is never satisfied, so 
that, no matter how much the mind acquires, of whatever nature it 
may be, desire remains the same, and makes men progressive. Its 
manifestations are seen in early life; show a child, old enough to 
observe anything, that which pleases its fancy, and immediately 
desire prompts the child to take it, or cry for it. The fact that the 
human mind is never satisfied with present knowledge, but always 
seeking for more — constantly desiring a change and something 
new — is proof that we are progressive beings, created and designed 



122 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

as such, and we shall go on investigating the universe for ages yet 
untold. If we had not a spirit or soul, we should not desire to know 
or investigate into things of a spiritual nature. Our natures could 
not crave to know something about a thing that does not exist, any 
more than our stomachs could crave for food if it did not exist. 
Where there is want or desire on the part of one thing or being, 
there must, of necessity, be something to satisfy it in some part of 
the universe. Fourth: Love of diversity and opposites causes 
young persons brought up in a strict, severe and rigid manner to 
wish for a life and associations just the opposite — makes beautiful 
and refined women admire and fall in love with men just the reverse 
physically and in many of their mental characteristics, such as 
bravery, energy, boldness of the right kind, and all those conditions 
belonging to a masculine nature; imparts a love for change, con- 
trasts, and whatever gives a sort of variety in life. Fifth: Curiosity 
— that disposition to pry and peep into things, experiment, and 
try new objects of interest; to know all about whatever appears 
strange or funny; to become acquainted and familiar with who- 
ever suits the idea and taste of the individual. The morbid desire 
to see noted criminals and the persons connected with great scan- 
dals and sensations, arises from the feeling of curiosity. Some one 
has said in reference to the enjoyment people seem to get out of 
scandals that, "half their enjoyment is in witnessing the distress of 
the party charged with the offense. If he shows no annoyance peo- 
ple soon tire, and there is nothing more brief and evanescent than 
a popular memory." Sixth: Acquisition — the desire to receive 
and own whatever the affections love and the soul delights in. It 
is the selfish feeling. 

All these innate conditions of the mind are acted upon by ex- 
ternal influences and circumstances in a variety of ways, some for 
good, some for evil. And these are the external conditions which 
predispose men to a fast life. 

What I wish to have distinctly understood is that there are two 
things necessary to make a man or woman fast. First, there must 
be something in their nature capable of being influenced and cor- 
rupted; and, second, there must be something of an external nature 
to produce that influence. 

If an individual having no sin in his nature was kept free from 
all sinful influences, and never saw or heard anything evil, nor was 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 1 23 

subjected to any tempter, he would remain holy. If, on the other 
hand, a pure person was subjected to all kinds and forms of sinful 
influence, and there was no element in his nature, no desire or pas- 
sion in the soul that could be tempted, he would remain pure like- 
wise. The Devil could not tempt Christ, because there was nothing 
in him to tempt, but he did tempt Eve, through one or both of two 
reasons. Either she was ignorant of the character of the Devil and 
sin, or there was some element in her nature he could act upon, 
such as desire, curiosity, or freedom. I am inclined to think it was 
a little of both. She was persuaded that the fruit was good for food 
(and it does not require much talk or influence to persuade some 
women). It looked pleasant and tempting to her eyes, and she 
thought it would make her wise. This created desire, and she took 
it. That she did not know the character and artful design of the 
serpent is evident from her excuse for sinning, "The serpent be- 
guiled me, and I did eat." 

Now, if there had been nothing in Eve's nature to tempt, the 
serpent could not have deceived her. Because, if she did not know 
Satan, she knew God, and must certainly have had enough intelli- 
gence to know she was disobeying his commands, and that the 
statements of God and the serpent were contradictory; and that, 
therefore, one must be wrong. On the other hand, if Eve had not 
been tempted by external influence, we have no reason to suppose 
she would have sinned. Christ was free from both internal and ex- 
ternal conditions. He knew Satan and himself, and was perfectly 
pure, so that sin could not possibly touch him. The lack of self- 
knowledge is the stumbling-block over which thousands of people 
fall. They do not know how far a bad habit or a mistake or error 
will lead them astray. 

I shall now proceed to mention the classes and phrenological 
characteristics of fast men and women. Phrenologically, fast per- 
sons, or those prone to that kind of life, lack strength and depth of 
character. They are shallow, easily carried away by the current of 
feeling and impulse; have a craving for light literature, dancing and 
amusements; are airy, light-headed, and lack a solid, practical kind 
of character. They have generally strong passions of some kind. 
In men, it is either for drink, or women, or both; in women, for dress, 
jewelry, theater-going, fun, and sometimes strong passions for men. 
Approbativeness, ideality, amativeness, and mirthfulness are the 



124 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

principal organs, with only average veneration, organic quality and 
religious nature. 

It is the peculiar temperamental conditions that mostly deter- 
mine their character. Persons with large organic quality generally 
rise above a fast life, no matter what the organs or temperaments 
are. But when the passional, caloric and bilious temperaments are 
largely developed, the temptation to a life of dissipation and sin is 
indeed very strong, and that individual who, with such an organiza- 
tion lives a pure and Godly life, is a moral hero. There is very little 
honor due to some persons for living a virtuous life; because, pos- 
sessing a cold nature and weak propensities, there is very little de- 
sire for the gratification of the passions and appetites. When there 
is strong love for fun, the comic and the exciting scenes of merry 
life as is found in the blonde type of character, there is also a great 
danger of falling into an evil life. Education has much to do with 
developing one's character. I mean by education in this descrip- 
tion, that kind of knowledge obtained by every-day life and contact 
with individuals and society. In this way the character is silently, 
but gradually, molded by surrounding associations. 

But perhaps the principal agency which determines character is 
hereditary. Parents who live fast or reckless lives must expect their 
children to follow in their footsteps. Mental as well as physical 
conditions are transmitted to offspring, and the reason why children 
of the same family differ so in appearance and disposition, is be- 
cause their parents were in different moods, surrounded by different 
associations, influenced by different circumstances, thought and 
acted differently, and were actuated by different motives and desires 
-—were not in precisely the same condition, either mentally, phys- 
ically, or circumstantially, previous to the birth of each child. It is 
not even necessary that parents should actually live a fast life to 
impart that desire to their children. Let their thoughts and desires 
be in that direction — let their minds be given up to a craving for 
that fictitious kind of life, and just as surely will similar impressions 
mold the minds of the children, and incline them to a fast life, as 
rivers are inclined to a downward, instead of an upward course. 

That the fundamental cause of a fast life or disposition is hered- 
itary, only requires a little close study and observation of such 
persons to convince any one having ability to perceive mental and 
physiological conditions by the appearance. 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 125 

Fast persons show it in their physiognomies, their actions, and 
their manner of conversation, and that at an early age, before they 
are out of their teens; so that it is evident they have not had time 
to form such a character. But there are some in whom the dispo- 
sition to a fast life is not internal or born in them; they acquire it 
from external pressure brought to bear upon them — force of cir- 
cumstances; are led into it, step by step, and especially by the 
example, influence, and persuasion of others. 

The external causes of a fast life are two-fold. One class of 
causes, by the power of attraction, draws persons into it; the other, 
by repulsion, forces and drives them into it. The fascinations of a 
gay, merry, exciting, pleasure-seeking life, with scarcely any work, 
are too strong for minds having any affinity for such things to bear; 
hence, they become intoxicated, lose their mental equilibrium, neg- 
lect the plain, practical duties of life, and drift into the current of 
dissipation. The difficulty with such individuals is, that they have 
not enough of that penetrating, perceiving, investigating and 
analytical cast of mind to see into the vanity, emptiness, and unsat- 
isfying nature of these alluring, superficial pleasures and' amuse- 
ments. The fashions of society and the style exhibited in high life 
excite the organs of approbativeness and ideality, and, if they are 
the largest and most active organs in the brain, they draw all the 
others into subjection, so that such a person is entirely controlled 
by the action of these two organs. For such an one to be out of the 
fashion is to be out of the world, and, in many instances, she will do 
almost anything to be stylish and gain a position in fashionable so- 
ciety. Her thirst for outside display and an easy, merry life knows 
no bounds and some will go so far as to sacrifice virtue and princi- 
ple to obtain what they desire. Especially is this the case with 
that class whose income is not sufficient for expensive living and 
dressing. Fast persons are captivated and carried away by appear- 
ances; they go by the senses and not the judgment; they forget 
that all that glitters is not gold. 

External appearances and internal reality are two things very 
often as widely different as daylight and darkness. Many people 
go through the world with their eyes wide open, and see nothing 
but what is on the surface — never investigating facts and causes, 
never looking behind the vail that separates reputation from char- 
acter. They are like busy bees in one particular — they flit from 



126 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

flower to flower, gathering enough honey for present use; but they 
have no honeycomb in which to store up for future use. They en- 
joy the bright, genial days of summer, and trust to what they call 
luck for the chilly months of winter. Pluck is unknown in such 
characters. They can not, or do not, like to face and encounter 
difficulties and obstacles that beset the pathway of persons of un- 
wavering principle and perseverance. They are human butterflies, 
whose chief delight is to look pretty and bask in pleasure. The 
reason why this class is so influenced and attracted by worldly fas- 
cinations is because of the tendency of human nature to live in the 
exercise of the physical senses, appetites and passions more than in 
the spiritual or higher nature, and so, having a slight inclination 
that way, they readily yield instead of resisting and fighting against 
the inclinations of the flesh. Self-control seems to be one of the 
hardest things for human beings to master and practice. Never- 
theless that is the only way to virtue and success — to conquer self 
is to save self and make self. 

The ways of sin are generally enticing. The enchanting sights 
which men behold are pleasing to the eye and agreeable to the 
senses. They steal upon the mind, inflame the affections, injure 
the intellect, create morbid desires, and weaken the whole moral 
character. The avenues of sin and places of amusement are very 
inviting in their appearance. They are designed and arranged for 
the very purpose of attracting. No expense is spared to make them 
always agreeable to the sense of sight and sound. But it is not 
those things most conspicuous to the senses that do the most mis- 
chief. The silent and unseen forces of nature are more powerful 
than those perceptible to the senses. 

What put evil into the mind of Eve ? Not the sight of the fruit, 
but the suggestion and insinuation of the Devil, in a gentle, artful 
manner. What puts the first evil thoughts and desires into the 
minds of our youth? What gives them their first inclinations toward 
a fast life ? What makes them anxious to see things and places of 
a questionable character ? Nothing but the ideas that have been 
suggested to them in some manner, either by conversation or read- 
ing, which aroused their curiosity, set them to thinking, created 
restlessness, awakened a desire to see and hear, led them to feel 
that they were not free and independent like others, to go and do 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 1 27 

just as they pleased, till they longed for a different life — one oppo- 
site in its nature and character to their present mode of living. 

Novel-reading is the curse of the country; for, if it does not in- 
still any positive evil idea, it robs the youth of their solid practical 
nature, power and strength of mind. They read excessively and 
think very little, so they become mental babies, feeding on nothing 
but imagination. They never become independent thinkers — in 
fact, they do not know how to think. They keep on feeding, or 
rather sucking, but never stop to digest. They cram their mental 
stomachs so full that it cannot hold any more, and finally impair 
their memories seriously. How much better off they would be if 
they would only read less and think more ! What are persons fit 
for who have been reading something to please their fancy during 
that period of life when they are forming their characters ? These 
exciting love stories, highly colored by the vivid imagination of the 
writer, have been preparing the mind of the reader to enter upon a 
fast life. And all that is necessary to cause such an one to rush into 
that kind of life are certain kinds of temptations and circumstances. 

Where do they obtain these novels to read ? Why, our public 
libraries and Sunday-school libraries kindly furnish them, helping 
to make them weak-minded, worthless, and immoral citizens, and 
useless, contaminating members of the church. Any library that 
furnishes novels or light literature is a public curse. I asked the 
librarian of one of our large city libraries what class of books were 
taken out the most; "Why," said he, "novels, novels; if it were not 
for novels we could not keep our library open. Old gray-headed 
men call for them, and the more trashy they are the better they like 
them." Still I would not in a wholesale way condemn every novel 
and every kind of fiction, but the bulk of it is much better fitted to 
make a good bonfire, than to give a good, thoughtful, practical char- 
acter, and even the best and most pious of novels if read constantly 
will so excite the imagination and draw on the sympathetic nature, 
as to throw the mind out of balance. They should be read on the 
same principle that a person eats any kind of luxury or takes 
medicine. Watch the school-girls and employes in our city, and 
you will find that a library-book is their most intimate companion. 
They carry them to school, to the workshop, and even to their 
meals. I remember two girls who were daughters of a lady I once 
boarded with, the eldest of whom did little else but read novels, and 



128 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

whenever she would be walking around the house, she would have 
one under her arm or in her hand ready for the first leisure moment. 
What good is such a girl for a wife and as a mother? She is only 
fit to raise up a family of weak-minded flirts. The younger girl on 
returning from Sunday-school one morning, brought home two 
library books; one of them was about Humpty Dumpty, and the 
other, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, or some such title — nice 
books for a Sunday-school to give out for the spiritual edification 
of the children ! 

I met a lady once who said she had read a thousand novels; if so, 
she certainly did not have time to read much else, and I judge she 
had not, for there was a novel look on her face. What people read, as 
well as what they see and hear, help to.fashion their minds and faces. 
Great men have traced the starting or turning point in their career 
of usefulness and greatness, to the thoughts and silent influence of 
some book they read in early life. And a good many blighted lives 
of bad men and women can trace the beginning of their downward 
career to novel-reading. The chief objection I have to novels is, 
they poison the mind and destroy the taste for anything sensible 
and serious or scientific. Like a girl I saw in a laundry one day. 
She was reading trashy literature when I called, and in a pleasant 
way I said to her, "Is that the kind of stuff you read?" "Oh, yes," 
said she, in a half-laughing way, "I have to read something to pass 
the time away." "Well," said I, in order to test its effect upon her 
mind, "do you not think it would be better for you to read the 
Bible occasionally?" "O, pshaw!" she replied, with an air of ridi- 
cule, "that's too dry; I would go to sleep over that." And that is 
about the effect light literature has on the majority of persons who 
have a craving for that kind of reading. True, there are some who 
read both Bible and novels, but most of them are like another girl 
I met, who was quite a church and Sunday-school attendant, but 
likewise a novel-reader; and, knowing she had a passion for such 
books, I asked her one day when I saw her reading the Bible, how 
she could get her mind on that. "O, I often read the Bible," she 
said, "but I like novels the best." Yes, there are plenty of such 
who like to read the Bible for a change, or for curiosity. But I 
would like to see or hear of a single person, male or female, who is 
an inveterate novel-reader, who prefers to read the Bible or scien- 
tific works in preference to novels. 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 129 

There is another kind of reading which corrupts the mind of all 
classes, old as well as young. I refer to the reading of scandals and 
reports of criminal acts in the daily newspapers. If there is any 
crime committed, all the horrible details of it are printed, so that 
every boy and girl in the country can become as familiar with sin 
theoretically as any adult; and, in many instances, it is not long 
before they become practical performers of what they have read. 
The principal evil in the publication of these scandals and crimes 
is, that people become so familiar, as it were, with sin, that they 
lose a portion of their abhorrence. And so crimes are looked upon 
as every-day occurrences, and little notice is taken of them; that is, 
they fail to shock the moral nature of people as they would if they 
were less frequent. For no matter how much we abhor a thing or 
an idea at first, the oftener we come in contact with it, the less 
objectionable it becomes to us. 

Some persons become fast, not so much by the power of attrac- 
tion, but rather by being driven into it, either through severe treat- 
ment or straitened circumstances. Parents are often responsible 
for the dissipation of their children. They make home feel to them 
a sort of prison-house from which they are glad to get away, and 
then they feel like birds let out of a cage, and are liable to run to 
excess in the use of their liberty. Restraint being thrown off, they 
are anxious and eager to see and know what the world is. They 
seek the society of those whose character is questionable, are influ- 
enced by them, and gradually lose self-control, and in time are led 
astray. Whereas, if their homes had been a little heaven below to 
them, they would not have sought corrupting associations. When 
parents make their sons and daughters feel that they love them 
dearly, and let them have all the innocent fun they want at home, 
ruling them in such a manner that they will not be afraid to speak 
or move for fear of being corrected, they will love their homes, and 
be contented to remain there till duty calls them away, or until 
they have a home of their own. Young people are continually told 
what they must not do, and where they ought not to go, but are 
seldom told what they may do, or where they may go; and they 
finally get aggravated and discontented, and are bound to have their 
own way, whether right or wrong. 

Parents advising and compelling their children to marry against 
their will is the worst kind of legalized prostitution. Imagine such 



130 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

individuals begetting children when they have little or no love for 
each other. When parents beget children they ought to be red-hot 
with love for each other. No wonder there are so many in the 
world with mean, unloving dispositions — persons who seem to have 
neither heart nor soul ! 

The older members of churches fail to do their duty towards 
young people, and so they wander into forbidden paths, through the 
neglect of those who ought to be more interested in them. Young 
people connected with churches and their congregations, would not 
seek evil amusements so much if the worthy elders would help to 
provide some innocent and real social kind of amusement for them, 
either in the church building, or at their houses, or some other con- 
venient place; but the trouble is, there is a sort of heathen caste 
existing among the wealthiest class of church members, and of 
course it would defile their homes to have the poor members cross 
their thresholds, and so they are shut out to enjoy themselves as 
best they can. 

Then there is another class, who are not wealthy, but put on 
more airs than rich people ever thought of. They, by their actions, 
say to others whom they consider beneath them, but are really su- 
perior so far as piety and common sense are concerned, "You do 
not belong to our clique, and we won't associate with you." There 
is a third class that are remarkably pious in their own estimation, 
and if they see a young person even smile within a hundred yards 
of the church, they frown and draw on a face as long as a mule's ear. 

These three classes destroy Christian sociability in all our large 
churches, especially city churches. Hence, quite a number are lia- 
ble to seek amusement where they ought not to, and associate with 
persons who have no regard for Christianity. There are those in 
churches who would do this under any circumstances, but the num- 
ber would be lessened if the church exercised more real, and less 
assumed love and friendship. I remember hearing a minister preach 
on the duty of young people to the church, to the state and to so- 
ciety, but I never heard him preach on the duty of the church to 
young people. 

Christ said to Peter, "If ye love me, feed my lambs," but minis- 
ters say, "Young people, feed the church, and the Lord will feed 
you." 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 131 

Nowhere in the New Testament have we any account of Christ 
putting so much stress on anything- he said, by repeating it the 
third time, as when he said, "If ye love me, feed my lambs." It was 
not the love of Peter he had in his mind, so much as it was the feed- 
ing of his lambs. Christ knew that Peter loved him, and Peter 
knew it also. But he was not aware what Christ wanted him to do 
till he thoroughly impressed it upon him by appealing to the strong- 
est power of his nature. And so I have often thought that the 
church has failed to comprehend as yet what its duty is toward 
young people, and toward those who unfortunately have stepped 
beyond the borders of moral society, and upon a fast life. Churches 
and ministers make a great effort to save the moral class of society, 
but turn the cold shoulder to those who most need a helping hand. 
Why, many of our church women would shun a fast woman as 
though she was a viper, instead of taking her by the hand and talk- 
ing kindly to her. The outcasts of society are the very ones Christ 
was most interested in, and he always treated them with peculiar 
kindness and gentleness. And, there is really more hope of saving 
one of them than a self-righteous, fashionable woman, who thinks 
herself too good to be lost. It is the uncharitableness of the church 
and society that prevents many a fallen woman from returning to a 
life of purity, actually keeping them in the position they condemn, 
because they will not visit them, nor receive them back into so- 
ciety. It often helps to drive them there, then to keep them there, 
and finally arrests them for being there. It is not to be supposed 
that all women would, if they could, return to good society, or im- 
prove their condition; but there are thousands that would, who are 
disgusted with that kind of life, but remain in it because they see 
no chance of bettering their condition financially. I remember a 
case where a lady, acting as city missionary among that class of 
women, had succeeded in reclaiming, as she thought, one of the most 
desperate of those characters. She took the woman to her own 
home, and as long as she was cared for and protected with Chris- 
tian influence, she behaved herself pretty well, but when the mis- 
sionary could not keep her any longer, and the woman could not 
find a home and nothing but a cold world and poverty staring her 
in the face, she gradually fell back into her old life, from which it 
is not likely she will ever return. I met this woman at the close of 
a lecture I gave in one of the Bethel Homes. I had arranged with 



132 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

the missionary and a clergyman to speak to an audience composed of 
sailors, and men and women from the rougher elements of society. 
After the lecture, this woman, of whom I knew nothing, was sent 
up to the platform to be publicly examined. I described her as 
having large veneration and a strong devotional nature, but, at the 
same time, was very combative; and such was her character. She 
could pray, or fight like a tiger, and had been through more than 
one battle with the police, making it pretty lively work for them 
to arrest her. Many of them have never been brought up to work, 
or taught anything by which they can make their living. Their 
parents were afraid they would soil their hands and be spoiled for 
piano purposes, or for appearance in society, so they were brought 
up with a silver spoon. But, unfortunately, the sun of prosperity 
ceased to shine on them — adversity came — poverty stared them 
in the face — and so they adopted the life of a prostitute. 

In the Washington, D. C, jail, was a young woman of good 
appearance, who expressed a desire to reform. A lady who was 
interested in the reform of criminals and labored for that purpose, 
was sent for. She talked to the woman and arranged to take her 
to her own home. But, alas ! she could not control herself, much 
less the fallen girl. She had not long been in the lady's house 
before that old, devilish, green-eyed monster, jealousy, took pos- 
session of her heart, all because her husband, a good man, occasion- 
ally talked in a social way to the woman, before his wife, in order 
to make her feel at home and contented. So she turned the girl 
out of the house, who, being discouraged and evidently losing con- 
fidence in everybody, soon found her way back to jail again. The 
reform lady really did the young woman an injury — making her 
last career worse than the first. Jealous people need some power 
to reform them, before they begin to doctor the souls of others. 

Sometimes parents drive their own children into disreputable 
lives, or help keep them there when they are in it. Like the 
case of another young lady in a Washington jail. Her sister had 
died, and she was permitted to go to her home and see her. Her 
father had been a drinking man, but for a year had quit. The 
occasion was sad, the scene affecting, as over the dead body of her 
sister she faithfully promised her mother she would make one more 
effort to reform and become reconciled to her father, when she got 
clear of the difficulty she was then in. "But," she added, "if ever 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 1 33 

father throws my past life up to me again, as he has done before, I 
will leave and never return!" That is what keeps many a woman 
from reforming: the frequent allusion to and censuring for past 
offenses, either by her parents or acquaintances. That is what 
makes it so hard and almost impossible for such a person to reform 
in the town or city where she was brought up, because, even if no 
person says anything to her, she naturally thinks that every person 
she meets looks upon her as a prostitute or thief, or whatever she 
has been guilty of, just as the guilty conscience of a criminal at 
large makes him imagine every little bush on the roadside is a 
policeman. Hence the best thing for a fallen woman to do (or man 
either) when she leaves a jail or house of prostitution, and wishes 
to mend her ways, is to start off immediately to some distant place 
where she is not known. 

And it is in such cases that the mean, low, selfish, unfeeling, 
yea, fiendish nature of some men come to light. For these very men, 
and society young-bloods who boast of their family connections, 
and have often been the cause of the downfall of respectable young 
women, are the very first to stigmatize and point the finger of guilty 
recognition at her when they see her trying to find her way back 
into society. Instead of trying to help the one they have ruined, 
or give her a chance to help herself back to the path of virtue, they 
do all they can to push her on to destruction. 

Some enter the palace of sin on account of matrimonial difficul- 
ties, either through disagreement or desertion. A large number 
find their way there through seduction and disappointment. They 
loved their enemies better than themselves or their own virtue. 
These classes are deserving of pity for two reasons: First, they are 
the victims of misplaced confidence; and, second, it is the nature 
of women to lean or depend upon man for support, and they have 
little courage or pluck to go out into the world and make their way 
through every conceivable difficulty that they have never before 
encountered. Then there is a natural shame felt in facing their 
friends and acquaintances after they have once fallen and it has 
become known; and so, as a man takes to drink to drown his 
troubles, they take to a life of prostitution, or else live with some 
man who will keep them. They likewise look upon that kind of life 
as the easiest way to make a living; and the inducements held out 
to them by the keepers of these houses are very strong and tempt- 



134 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

ing, and so they leap into the dark uncertainty. But the greatest 
inducement and temptation to a fast life is money. There is a large 
class of women, as well as men, who will do almost anything for 
money and dress. They will part with honor, virtue and principle 
for an easy, stylish and voluptuous kind of life. For this class there 
is very little hope. They have no inclination to reform, because 
they make it a business — and generally a paying one, so far as 
money is concerned. It could not be otherwise than paying when 
the business men of the city, and mostly the married ones, liberally 
support them. 

One woman in Chicago took in eleven thousand dollars, by 
keeping an assignation house, the first year she opened. And some 
of the high-toned houses of ill-fame are the most elegantly furn- 
ished in the city. So, if it were not for the money made by prostitu- 
tion, there would not be half the number in the business. There 
are a few who become sporting women through passion and a nat- 
ural desire to lead a fast woman's life. But they are exceptions, 
and not the rule; for it must not be supposed that fast women are 
so passionately fond of men as to cause them to seek such a life for 
sexual pleasure and gratification. The amative passion is not so 
strong in women as it is in men; hence women are naturally more 
virtuous than men and less passionate. Hence, also, one cause of 
prostitution is the excessive demands of men, through their unre- 
strained amativeness and the yielding disposition of women, and 
their desire for dress and money. But, as I have said, there are 
women who have a large amount of amativeness — more than they 
know how to take care of — and finally it leads them to ruin. There 
has been more than one Cleopatra in the world, and it is quite likely 
there will be a great many more. Fortunately for the moral welfare 
of the race, nature or the God of nature has provided a means in 
the organization of woman, by which her sexual impulses are kept 
in subjection without resorting to carnal intercourse with men. 

Women are very often their own seducers. They tempt men 
by their fascinations, look, manner and actions, in the house, and 
even on the streets, sometimes just for fun or to see how much in- 
fluence they have; but their fun often terminates in a sad reality. 
Women are mental seducers, and men the physical; for a desire or 
conception in the mind always precedes the physical act. That is, 
in any kind of seduction, the amative feeling in man is excited by 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 135 

the woman; and it makes no difference -whether it is done con- 
sciously or intentionally, or otherwise, the effect is all the same. 
It is evident that, in many cases, they try to work on the amative 
natures of men by their shrewd, cunning arts of bewitchery; and 
they generally do it in such a manner that no one would suspect 
them of intentionally doing it — at any rate, that is the impression 
they wish to convey to the minds of men. 

I have noticed at summer resorts, especially a fashionable water- 
ing place like Long Branch, a tendency on the part of some women 
to wash and dress themselves with their windows or doors partly 
open, or so fixed tHat any person passing could hardly help seeing 
inside. I remember at one of the large hotels there, a woman 
whose room was on the ground floor facing the front piazza, where 
everybody promenaded up and down, who, every afternoon from 
three to four o'clock, when she had or made occasion to change her 
dress and wash, would leave her shutters so that outsiders could 
see in, In one sense there was no harm in it, in another sense there 
was. As far as the mere exposing of her arms and shoulders, that 
of itself was harmless; but it was the sudden, artful way in which 
it was done; it flashed upon the eye of the observer as a surprise, 
and at once aroused his curiosity and desire to see more. It was 
privacy made public. I have no doubt but some of them do this 
innocently and thoughtlessly; that is, without any desire to attract 
attention or work upon the feelings and impulses of men. But 
there are others who do it on purpose with a motive behind the act; 
either through a spirit of vanity to partly show their forms, or to 
excite the curiosity and passions of men. Just as in the case of 
another woman at Long Branch, who I ventured to speak to on the 
subject, and finally asked her if she did not think some of them did 
so intentionally. " Why," said she, "certainly; I was taking a sponge 
bath one afternoon in my room, with the shutters closed but the 
slats open, when two gentlemen drove by and looked up and caught 
a glance of me. They drove on a few yards, then wheeled around 
and drove past again; but just before they got opposite my window 
I closed the slats." I asked her why she closed them after leaving 
them open in the first place. "Why," said she, "to make them all 
the more crazy." I remember a married lady in Saratoga, who was 
rooming on the same floor with myself; her husband was away most 
of the time. I had to pass her room in going to my own, and I 



I36 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

became at last really annoyed in finding her always closing her 
door just as I passed it, though she could hear my footsteps on the 
stairs in plenty of time to have closed it before I passed. Some- 
times she would leave her door ajar and be standing inside in her 
night-dress. Finally, I asked another married lady in the house if 
she could give any reason why such a person always shut her door 
as I passed; said I, there must be something wrong. "O," said she, 
"you are too observing; women do not think anything about such 
things." But I judged afterwards that somebody did think on the 
subject, for there was no more manceuvering with the door; and, 
what was greatly to my surprise, the two women became suddenly 
intimate, went out walking together and were fast friends. Well 
may Macauley remark: "History proves that although woman pos- 
sesses noble impulses and approaches the angels, yet when yielding 
to a master passion, she is capable of a refinement of wickedness 
which men never attain." 

And it has been said that all the great and good things in relig- 
ion, politics and art that have been produced in France for the last 
hundred years, have been inspired by a woman. 

Some women want to be seduced. A young girl, about fifteen 
or sixteen years of age, on being asked how she came to be seduced, 
replied, "Because, I wanted to be." Another, in speaking about 
the man who employed her before she became fast, said, "I used to 
hate him, because he didn't take liberties with me and try to seduce 
me." I mention these facts, not out of any disrespect for women, 
or because I believe this to be the general or natural character of 
women, but to show that men are not always to blame for the 
seduction and ruin of young women, and because there are some 
persons in the world who would have the public believe that woman 
is the most abused creature on earth — that she is an angel, and 
man a villain, so far as the sexual question is concerned. 

Solomon charges women with being seducers rather than men; 
and he certainly ought to know; that is, if experience and acquaint- 
ance with persons, things and subjects has anything to do with 
adding to one's knowledge. 

Prostitutes who have not dissipated too much occasionally make 
good wives, because, having sinned, they are not easily led astray 
again, and they are contented to have a quiet home of their own. 
In fact, many would be happy to marry a respectable man, and 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 1 37 

forever bid adieu to their fast life, which has been so repugnant to 
them. The keeper of one of the low concert halls of New York 
City, married one of the girls of his place. She not only reformed 
herself, but made a much better man of him. The woman of Sa- 
maria had a better heart and disposition than many others whose 
moral characters were better than hers. So long as a woman does 
not drink there is a chance to reform her, but when she becomes a 
regular drunkard her case is hopeless. A gentleman connected 
with the House of Industry and Reform, at the Five Points, in New 
York, told me he never knew of a drunken woman being perma- 
nently reformed. Do what you may, they will sooner or later fall 
back to their old habits, and take to drink like a thirsty stag to 
the water. 

There are different grades of sporting women; they are not all 
low and vulgar. Some of them come from the best families in the 
land, are well educated, and are perfect ladies in every other res- 
pect. They are there through misfortune of some kind, and very 
often unknown to their family and friends. Many a woman leaves 
her home and gives her friends to understand she is visiting some 
acquaintance in another place, or engaged in some respectable 
business; when, in reality, she is boarding at a house of ill-fame, 
or has rented a room where she can receive company, or is living 
for a time with a strange man. After a while she returns home, 
and conducts herself as usual, none being any the wiser. But she 
soon feels like visiting again, or getting another situation, and so 
continues coming and going till her actions excite suspicion, and 
she becomes the subject of general talk. Still none can make a 
positive charge against her, and she becomes bold, defiant and in- 
different, till finally she throws off the vail, and appears before 
society in her true colors. 

Occasionally the young girls, in large cities, will make-believe 
and deceive their friends, by not leaving the city at all. They take 
the cars, but get off at the first station, and return on the next 
train, and then get lodgings in some other portion of the city, and 
it is difficult for their friends to find them, because the" person they 
live with, or rent rooms of, are not likely to answer any questions 
that would lead to their discovery. 

So far as this vice is concerned, woman is woman's worst enemy. 
Those in the better class of society look down upon those who have 



138 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

fallen with utter contempt, rather than with a spirit of charity and 
pity. Some regard them with a sort of righteous indignation, 
which, to a certain extent, is right. But I suppose the reason some 
women feel so intensely bitter against prostitutes is, because they 
think, or perhaps know, that their husbands or friends visit these 
women. Then there is a sort of jealous feeling, because they can- 
not occasionally step off the track, and do as other fast women do, 
and go where fast men go, without exposing themselves; though 
some break through this barrier and run the risk, and then ill-feeling 
toward this class becomes modified. 

A crusade was waged against the houses of prostitution in 
New York, some years ago, if I remember right, and, after the 
work was fairly inaugurated, it suddenly stopped, for the reason 
that the women met their own husbands or sons in these places, 
and of course their tongues were sealed. A city missionary lady 
told me that, on calling at one of these houses one day to 
talk to the inmates, she read a list of the names of the board of 
managers of the organization she represented- She had only read 
the second or third before one of the girls spoke up, "We know him." 
The missionary blushed and hesitated for a moment, then began 
to read some more names; in a moment another girl spoke up, 
"We know him, too." Suffice to say she did not save many souls in 
that house. On another occasion in another city she called at a 
high-toned house, and the landlady met her in the hall or parlor 
and told her that she need not come there to talk to her girls about 
religion when one of the leading church women in the city and her 
daughter came to her house when they wanted to make a little 
money. These are sad and serious statements to make, but they 
are true, nevertheless. 

Fast women on the sly abound in all classes of society, from the 
servant girl up to the wealthy mistress, with the church not except- 
ed. Single women of this stamp, in ordinary circumstances, gener- 
ally obtain positions in some light, respectable employment, either 
in offices as clerks or copyists, or as salesladies in some dry goods 
or notion stores. Wages, to this class, are not so much an object as 
some respectable employment, to take away all suspicion. They in 
time form an acquaintance with gentlemen visiting for business pur- 
poses, and so make appointments outside. These parties can gen- 
erally give the very best kind of references from good society, such 




The Eye of Charles J. Guiteau, the Murderer 
of President Garfield. 

Conceic, Secretiveness, low cunning, evasiveness and a lying, licentious, unprinci- 
pled, worldly and devilish nature is here expressed. A sharp, shrewd, quick perception 
of things of a material or worldly nature is also indicated in all eyes having this fullness 
between the upper lid and brow. There are a great many eyes similar to this one to be met 
in every-day life; and, though they may not possess characters quite so depraved as was 
Guiteau' s, they will have some of his characteristics. Such eyes are generally tainted 
with some kind of wickedness or meanness. They are unreliable. Contrast this eye 
with that of the Earl of Shaftesbury, in the latter part of this book. It is rather difficult 
to bring out the expression of the living eye, which particularly reveals the present moral 
state of the soul, in any engraving, and there may be eyes with similar forms without 
such a character. But when the form, color and that sort of magnetic or psychological 
expression emanating from them are the same, then the general character will always be 
the same. The most of murders originate from a perverted and licentious condition of 
the organ of amativeness. I never saw Guiteau, and have no space here to discuss 
insanity; but would remark, on general principles, that there are different kinds of 
insanity — that no person becomes insane in every faculty — that a person may be insane 
on some subjects without losing his reason; and there are thousands of partially insane 
people walking the streets every day — that a man may be able to distinguish between 
right and wrong, but lack the will and strength to resist an evil impulse, even though he 
may know that certain death awaits him: as in the case of negroes in the South, who 
commit rape. Judas knew he was doing wrong, and though, I presume, he was quite 
sane, was no doubt seized with an impulse he could not control at the time. Pilate knew 
he was doing wrong in delivering Christ to the Jews, but he had not strength of character 
and will to resist their demand; and, like Judas, he finally committed suicide. A man's 
responsibility comes in, however, in allowing himself to gradually become corrupted until 
he passes that line beyond which he has not the power to return or control himself. 

I hope some day to write a work on Crime and Insanity. 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. I 39 

as business men, church members and ministers. They either make 
a business of getting acquainted and associating with first-class 
society, or else, as is often the case, they were connected with it 
before they became fast; hence they either borrow or retain their 
reputation and good name from other persons, and many of them are 
so deep and shrewd that it is almost impossible to find them out. 
They find their way into the most fashionable society in the city. 
A gentleman giving a grand party at his residence on one of the 
principal avenues of Chicago, received among his guests one of this 
class, though, I presume, unknown to him. They visit the best ho- 
tels in the city, take rooms there, and carry on their business when- 
ever convenient; or, they will visit gentlemen at their rooms in these 
hotels by driving there in carriages. 

It is an indisputable fact that many of the finest and most prom- 
inent buildings in the business portion of Chicago have more or 
less of these women in them, and they invariably give first-class 
references when they apply, or, what is often the case, room with 
a man, and pass as his wife. Indeed, a stranger hardly knows 
now-a-days into what kind of a place he is going when he takes a 
room or board. I boarded for two or three weeks with a fine old 
eastern lady who prided herself on having very nice people in her 
house, but I discovered before I left that two of her female board- 
ers were questionable characters, and my reasons for so judging 
them was their immodest actions and exposure of the person of one 
of them in a public place. On another occasion I wanted to lay 
over for a month and prepare some manuscript. I was a stranger 
in the city, and after trying one of the hotels and finding it was lit- 
tle better than an assignation house, I inquired for a boarding house 
and was recommended to one. I engaged room and board, and 
thought I was going to be comfortable and happy. I saw there was 
a number of lady boarders when I went into the dining room. On 
making inquiries, I was informed that three or four of them were 
married, one was divorced, and the others had husbands away. A 
few days passed and I began to think the husband story was a 
doubtful one. A pretty little blonde roomed immediately opposite 
to me, and from a remark she made I began to investigate matters. 
I noticed she had a doctor who called every three or four days. 
The second time he came I concluded he was a peculiar kind of doc- 
tor, and notwithstanding she had a medicine bottle in the dining 



140 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

room from which she took a dose before eating, I concluded the doc- 
tor business was all a blind — a mere make-believe. A little further 
investigation proved beyond a possible doubt that she was a sly fast 
woman, and probably two or three of the others also. Still further 
inquiries revealed the fact that the landlady was living with a man 
unlawfully, and had one child by him which was in the house. 

Sly married women can be found anywhere and everywhere, in 
all classes and circles of society, but especially among the upper 
classes who live in affluence and ease, and whose husbands bestow 
part of their affections and vital force on other women. Such wives 
often suffer matrimonial starvation, and it is no wonder they become 
fast, if they have a good share of amativeness and a desire for pleas- 
ure. On the other hand, men marry women who are worthless as 
wives, and their strong amative natures incline them to form im- 
proper acquaintance with other women. They gradually weaken 
in their attachment, become cool and indifferent, and spend their 
evenings away from home. The wife becomes lonesome, and con- 
cludes that she will try the same thing. She finds a companion, 
either male or female, and when her husband goes away for a day 
or two she improves the opportunity. She visits places of public 
resort, high-toned restaurants and drinking places, goes to the 
matinee, gets up a flirtation with the fast young man she fancies, 
gives him a few hints, and if she finds he is sharp enough to take 
them will drop him a note stating the day and time he can call at her 
residence or some other place. These high-toned women will flirt 
with the waiters of some public place of resort, and invite them 
to their elegant homes. These young men, being poor, are less 
afraid of being exposed by them, because they feel somewhat com- 
plimented and flattered, and do not mingle in the same kind of 
society as the ladies do; and if there was likely to be any trouble a 
few dollars would buy them up all right, so that they would be 
deaf and dumb on that subject. 

The actual state and undercurrent of society is not discernible 
at first sight, or by outward appearances. One must be a close ob- 
server of every thing and person around him; must become familiar 
with the life and habits of different classes, good and bad, rich and 
poor, the learned and unlearned; must make himself a kind of de- 
tective, and notice people in all conditions, circumstances and 
places; must know how and where they spend most of their time 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 141 

by day and by night, Sundays and week-days. Do this four or five 
years, and you will begin to realize what the true condition of so- 
ciety is. Never take the reputation or profession of a person as a 
guaranty of his or her true character. There are plenty of men and 
women who are either members or regular attendants of the church, 
who can put on a pious appearance as they sit in their pews, and 
mingle in church society, whose private life and character is fast 
and immoral. I am speaking now of that unprincipled class who 
seem to make religion and the church a sort of cloak, under which 
they can pass for a great deal more than they are — those who have 
no conscientious scruples about their actions, and are influenced by 
the selfish sentiments; those who take a greater interest in dress- 
ing up and parading the prominent streets in the afternoons, than 
they do in home duties or works of benevolence. 

There are others, who, through some strong passion in their 
nature, have besetting sins that occasionally lead them astray, but 
they are loyal in heart and honest in motive, and do not belong to 
the list of fast men and women. 

There is another class, who are not exactly fast, in any sense of 
the term, but who are extremely free and liberal in their sentiments 
on the marriage question. They are contented and happy so long 
as their husbands' pocket-books are well lined and everything goes 
nicely. But when misfortune or any kind of trouble comes along 
their smiles give way to frowns. The following incident will illustrate 
this class: A prominent member of the church, in speaking about 
elopements between married persons, remarked, "Well, I have a 
poor stick of a husband, but when I can't get along with him, I'll 
get a divorce." Those persons who never have any trials and diffi- 
culties in life are not properly disciplined. There is too much of 
the squash and pumpkin nature in such people. They lack solidity, 
strength, and force of character, and when adverse circumstances 
suddenly overtake them, they know not what to do, because they 
have never been tempered with the difficulties and hardships of 
life's battle-field. This is the reason why so many men and women 
who have lived in ease and affluence all their lives, become drunk- 
ards and prostitutes when misfortune overtakes them; because, not 
being disciplined or familiar with adversity, they cannot or will not 
encounter it. So, married women, when they have been flattered 
and petted in their youthful days, cannot endure a cross word or 



142 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

look from their husbands, and become discontented because their 
lives are not all honey. 

The old-maidish way in which many bring up their sons and 
daughters, so that they never see or know anything, has a tendency 
to cause them to go to the other extreme when they have a chance 
to see what is going on in the world. 

A fast person is one in whom desire is unchecked, or nearly so 
— in whom the reins of self-control hang loose, and there are three 
things that go to make up a fast character. First, the passions and 
appetites; second, the desire to see, know and examine what the 
passions and appetites are interested in; and third, the continual 
thinking about such things until the will and judgment become par- 
alyzed. If young people would only control their thoughts, there 
would be no difficulty in controlling their actions, and it would save 
them from a multitude of sins in after life. Rich and extravagant 
living is also connected with a fast life. And many young men 
shorten their existence and a useful career by rich and excessive 
quantities of food. A surfeited stomach deranges the whole system, 
and stimulating kinds of food and drink excite the animal passions. 
High living is a dangerous thing. It has taken many a prominent 
man from a useful and honored position in society, and laid him in 
his grave, and then his friends bring lots of beautiful bouquets, and 
honor his death more than his life, and say, "What a pity! he was 
such a nice, good-hearted and generous fellow!" Yes, he was too 
generous for his own good and the good of his friends; in fact he 
was too generous to live. A fast life means a fast death. 

While taking a Turkish bath in one of the eastern cities, I saw 
a man there who handled about a thousand car loads of grain a week. 
He had been married two months and spent only two weeks of the 
time at home with his wife. He had spent most of the time in 
carousing and general dissipation, and had come there in a hack to 
take a bath and sweat the whiskey out of him. The driver had to 
wait on him and dress him like a child. The poor horses had been 
standing outside from eight A. M. to one P. M., and I presume had 
been out all night beside, for the hackman was tired and sleepy, 
taking naps while he was in the sweating room. The condition 
this newly married debaucher was in can be imagined when his foul 
whiskey breath was so strong that it made the man who gave him 
the bath sick at the stomach. I once met a street car driver in 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 143 

jersey City, N. J., who told me he used to own property and had 
considerable money, but he wanted to put on as much style as oth- 
ers possessed of means; fell into licentious habits, drove fast horses, 
and finally became so reduced he had to drive horses for a street 
car company, and support a wife and mother besides. A fast life 
always ends bad; bad for the soul, bad for the body, and generally 
for the pocket also. 

There are two causes which produce fast men, besides their 
natural tendencies. One is large salaries. So long as they have 
moderate incomes — just enough to live comfortably, with economy 
— they are not so likely to spend money foolishly or become ex- 
travagant; but when they have abundance, there is a temptation to 
spend it in some manner, and, as their taste inclines them to a life 
of pleasure, they freely spend it for such purposes, and the appetite, 
once sharpened, continues to crave for more. The other cause is 
physical and mental laziness. There is not so much danger of money 
leading a man into a fast life if he is kept hard at work of some 
kind. Hence business men are not so prone to dissipation as their 
employes are, because they have a great deal of mental, if not phys- 
ical labor. They use their intellect more — also acquisitiveness; so 
that the faculties that lead one into dissipation are not so active. 
The most active organs always draw the largest quantity of blood, 
leaving the others in a weakened condition. Now their employes 
have less thinking to do, less care and anxiety, and, if they have 
not the mental temperament and some object in life set before them 
to bring out their energy, they spend their spare hours in an un- 
profitable, if not a reckless, manner. Young men having lucrative 
positions in stores, offices and banks, are prone to this kind of life, 
and their past giddy life sometimes places them in very embarrass- 
ing circumstances, as was the case with some young men in a bank 
when a fashionable sporting woman called one day and presented 
a check to be cashed. The cashier informed her she would have to 
be identified. "O," said she, "any of these gentlemen inside can 
identify me." There was a general stampede and consternation 
among the sinful clerks. They got behind the desk and hid their 
heads under the counter, till the manager perceiving the condition 
of things, and the awkward position of the clerks, stepped up to the 
paying teller and informed him that "he was not personally ac- 
quainted with the lady, but he knew it was all right, and he could 



IzJ4 FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 

pay her the money." It was well for the bank there were one or 
two virtuous souls in it. Of all classes of men I regard college pro- 
fessors as the purest on the woman subject or sex feeling. The 
large amount of intellectual brain work they have to do, offsets and 
cools down the passions. 

Every man and woman who wishes to make the most of them- 
selves and protect their moral characters, should have some special 
aim and object in life, and work for the accomplishment of it. I 
remember a remark I heard a young man make to his companion 
one night on the street as they were walking along immediately in 
front of me. "Well," said he, "I do not care; I have no object in life 
to live for." I thought that was one of the saddest remarks I ever 
heard. It is the adoption of just such a sentiment as that which 
leads' many a person to ruin or suicide. The fast young men and 
licentious husbands and fathers who lavish their money and strength 
on fast women, should study and practice economy. Let them 
pause, think and figure up how much of their money they spend in 
the run of a month or a year, leaving out what they occasionally 
pay to regular physicians, or more frequently quack doctors who 
financially bleed them, and they will be astonished. Why, if they 
had to give one-quarter of what they spend in bad habits to the 
church or missionary cause, they would consider themselves robbed 
and ruined. O, how sin makes its poor victims pay for their im- 
aginary pleasures ! A noble object in life, the exercise of the intel- 
lect in literary and scientific studies, combined with habits of 
economy and industry, is the royal road to a moral life. 

The artful and ingenious ways that fast women sometimes re- 
sort to as a means of advertising themselves is really astonishing. 
When in Saratoga one summer, I had been to the Congress Spring 
for a glass of water some time during the day, and just as I turned 
and left the spring, a small colored boy neatly dressed stepped up 
to me, and, in a modest, innocent way said, "Do you know Miss 
Lucy?" Surprised and bewildered for a moment at the abrupt and 
peculiar question, I tried to get at the sense of it, and whether I 
knew any person by that name. I could not remember such a per- 
son, especially with only the given name, and beginning to have a 
slight suspicion as to the kind of person meant, I said "No," to 
the boy. I asked him who Miss Lucy was. "Don't know," said 
he, "only she lives at No. Washington street." I was satisfied 



FAST MEN AND WOMEN. 145 

then that the boy was quietly advertising a house of prostitution, 
and the next time I had occasion to pass that way, for it was on 
one of the principal streets of the city, I noticed a plate on the door 
with "Miss Lucy" engraved on it. On another occasion when in 
Chicago, I had advertised for help, and among the many applicants 
were two young ladies who complained before leaving the office, 
that they had been insulted by the elevator man. I thought it very 
strange that such should be the case, and on making inquiries I 
found there was nothing in it; the girls were fast and said what they 
did by way of advertising themselves. 



CONFIDENCE- MEN AND BLACK -MAILERS. 



Confidence-Men and Women: The Phrenology of them — Manifestation of the Fac- 
ulties — The Education of them — Definition of a Black-mailer- -The kind of Society 
in which the worst Class is Found — Two general Classes of Confidence-Men — How 
the Papers fail to Expose them — Incident Illustrating a Game Practiced upon an 
old Man one Sabbath Morning: How it was Accomplished — Country People and 
City People — How both Classes Suffer —Seduction a Species of Confidence-game — 
Mock-auction Sales, and the Tricks that are Practiced there — Professional Burglars 
— The Panel Game — How it is Worked and by what Class — Dead Beats — How 
Clerks and Book keepers are Frequently Confidence-Men — The Society Confidence- 
Man — Story Illustrating the latter Class — How Confidence-Men try to gain the 
Sympathy of Peisons — How two Young Ladies kept up Personal Appearance when 
in Straitened Circumstances — How Ladies Play the Confidence-game — The Girl 
who wanted a new pair of Gloves — How a Wealthy Man was Confidenced by a 
Fast Woman — The Arts and Tricks of Women to Excite the Curiosity and Passions 
of Men — The Ingenious Devices of Bad Women to Raise Money and Advertise 
themselves. 

Black-Mailing: Two Forms, and Causes of it — A Story Explaining one of the Forms — 
A case of Adultery — The Demand for Money — How a Doctor and his Associate 
Extorted Money from a Young Man — How Business Men are the Victims of Female 
Operators — Other kinds of Black-mailing — That done through Spite and Retalia- 
tion — An Illustration of it — How two Young Ladies Managed to Dress Elegantly 
— Black-mail practiced on Educational Institutions — How Men Black-mail Women 
— How to Resist and Counteract Black-mailers. 



CONFIDENCE - MEN. 

It must not be supposed that these two classes have any great 
phrenological differences from the more honorable class. They 
may have some faculties which are large and some that are deficient, 
that adapt them peculiarly to their nefarious business. Just the 
same as certain combinations of faculties adapt men for mechanics, 
lawyers, journalists, etc.; but the general configuration of the head 
will be the same as in other people. The principal difference be- 
tween them lies in the education of these faculties and the organic 
tone. A faculty may be educated in whatever direction one pleases. 
Veneration will worship whatever the intellect teaches it to worship, 
and will be gross or refined in its worship, according to the propen- 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 147 

sities or moral sentiments. Conscience will adhere to what it has 
been taught is right, but it never teaches what is right or wrong; it 
is simply a monitor or prompter to do what other faculties teach one 
is right. So our judgment of right or wrong will depend on our 
training or education. Circumstantial education has much to do 
with molding the conscience. It is likewise necessary that we 
should reason correctly, and in order to do that we must have pos- 
itive and correct facts as data to reason from. Then our conscience 
will guide us in the right direction. Otherwise it will not, no matter 
how large the faculty of conscientiousness may be. 

Combativeness will fight in whatever direction the other facul- 
ties call it into action. It will fight for ideas and theories, for moral 
and religious principles, or in a physical way, in self-defense or to 
settle some dispute. It will dispute anything it is interested in. 

Spirituality will believe the truth or superstition. Its office is 
to believe, and not to determine what it will believe. 

All religious people exercise faith; but their faith is as varied and 
different as the colors of the rainbow, because the faith of each has 
been educated differently. It matters not, for present considera- 
tion, how or by what means that education has been accomplished 
— whether by sectarian influence, or by a process of reasoning, or 
by absence of either. Benevolence will give to whatever object it 
is taught or impressed is in need of help. It makes no discrimina- 
nation whether the object is worthy or not. Its office is to give, 
not to investigate; that is the work of other faculties. Firmness 
stands its ground — is determined, unyielding; will not give in; it 
makes no difference whether it be right or wrong; it leaves that for 
the reason to decide. Hence some persons persist in a thing that 
is entirely wrong, because their education or reason is at fault. 
Ideality, or imagination, will conceive ideas, images and pictures of 
beauty that are pure and elevating or impure and degrading, ac- 
cording as it has been educated and exercised. These illustrations 
are sufficient to show that human nature depends almost or quite 
as much upon the education of the faculties as upon their size and 
development. And the sooner people fully comprehend this fact 
and act upon it, the better it will be for the public generally. The 
word education is used here in its broadest sense, meaning any kind 
of discipline, training or influence brought to bear upon a faculty, 
whether good or evil, right or wrong. 



148 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

Thus I conclude that confidence-men, black-mailers and gam- 
blers become so through some kind of education of the faculties, 
either circumstantial, hereditary, or personal, and not merely 
through a particular organization of the brain, though that may be 
a part of the cause. A confidence game is that in which one per- 
son prevails upon another to put faith and trust in him, in order to 
afford a more favorable opportunity for him to rob, steal, impose 
upon, or in some way injure, or take advantage of, the confiding 
party. A black-mailer is one who extorts money, valuables, and 
favors by threatening false reports of a scandalous nature, or in 
some way injuring the good name and moral character of the indi- 
vidual attacked. The practice of these infamous tricks upon inno- 
cent persons is not confined to the rough, and what is generally 
considered the dangerous, class of society. Those who would be 
least suspected, those who move in refined circles of society, and 
pass as ladies and gentlemen, are to be found among these con- 
temptible human wolves and alligators. The higher the grade of 
society in which such persons are found, the greater and more ex- 
tensive will be their operations and impositions. It would be diffi- 
cult to classify the different kinds of confidence-men and women, 
as they change their mode of operation to suit the time, place and 
circumstances. I might, however, name two divisions of them — 
those who operate upon strangers, and those who operate upon 
acquaintances. 

It is scarcely necessary for me to mention circumstances illus- 
trating the manner in which this class of men play their games with 
strangers, as they have been so frequently exposed by the daily 
papers; although I think the papers generally fail to do their duty 
in one respect. While they inform the public that such and such a 
person has been confidenced out of his money, they do not state 
clearly the mental process by which the good will and confidence 
of the stranger were enlisted. Hence the warning given to the pub- 
lic is of very little use, because they have not learned just how these 
men approach and converse with their victims. 

As this book may fall into the hands of many persons who do 
not read the city papers, or only occasionally, I will relate two in- 
cidents that came under my own observation, one of them on a 
Sabbath morning: I had been to breakfast, and was just returning 
to my room located in a large block in the central portion of the 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 1 49 

business part of the city. As I ascended the stairs, I met a man 
coming down, far advanced in life, and almost crazy with excite- 
ment. He stopped and asked me if there was any business office 
in the building. I told him there were several, though they were 
not open, the day being Sunday. Then he burst out into some such 
exclamation as, "Oh, dear me! I am fleeced, I am fleeced!" And 
showing me a twenty-dollar gold piece, asked if it was not counter- 
feit. The weight and sound of it were sufficient proof that there 
was very little gold about it. I took him to the office of the chief 
of police, to see if anything could be done for him. But he was in- 
formed that nothing could be done unless he could find and identify 
the man. A policeman told him it served him right for being fool- 
ish enough to hand over his money to a stranger when he would 
not let his neighbor have even a dollar without security. After he 
became self-composed, he told me that he had been cheated as fol- 
lows : He was going farther west, on a visit to his son, but stopped 
over at Chicago a few days to see the city, and the Fall exhibition 
then open. He had a large satchel with him, and was accosted by a 
well-dressed man in front of the block already described. By some 
means the confidence-man had found out a few things about the old 
gentleman's place of residence, either by hearing him converse with 
some other person just before, or else an accomplice confidant, living 
where he came from, had sent the other one word of his coming, 
and a few particulars besides. Then the old gentleman, finding he 
knew so much, told him where he was going, about his son, etc. Ol 
course the confidence-man was well acquainted with his son, and 
was going on to the same place, and would like to accompany him. 
But he had to step up in the building and get a ticket first, and as 
they would not allow the premium on gold, would he (the old man) 
be kind enough to let him have greenbacks, and he would deposit 
his gold with him till he could get it exchanged. The old man con- 
sented, and he deposited three worthless twenty-dollar gold pieces, 
for which he received nearly that amount in good greenbacks. The 
building being located on a corner, was so constructed that it had 
two entrances, one from each street. So the confidence-man going 
up one stairway, passed through the hall, and down the other, leav- 
ing the poor old granger penniless, waiting for his return, while he 
made his escape up the other street. 



I50 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

But why was this man so easily imposed upon ? Because he 
was a country green-horn ? Not exactly; he had heard about con- 
fidence-men, thieves, gamblers, etc., and probably made up his mind 
he would never be taken in by them, just as many others have done, 
and some of them shrewd men. But he was undoubtedly ignorant 
of the peculiar and various ways they have of approaching and ad- 
dressing a stranger. Our wise city people would be just as ignorant 
about these things as their country cousins if it were not that they 
are living right in the midst of them, and hear of their tricks every 
day, and sometimes business men well posted in the ways of these 
men are taken in. Another thing that saves city people is the fact 
that this class of confidence-men do not, and dare not, risk them- 
selves on their own fellow-citizens. They would be more liable to be 
recognized and arrested some time, whereas country people and 
transients from other cities would lose double the amount through 
loss of time and the extra expense of staying in the city. But 
city people are really greater victims and losers by confidence- 
games than country people, which I shall show farther on. 

Partial ignorance, then, was the cause of the granger's misfor- 
tune. The next question to be considered and answered is, How 
and why did the confidence-man make a favorable impression upon 
the granger's mind ? In the first place, he was mentally in the most 
favorable condition possible to be acted upon. He was in a neg- 
ative relation to the confidence-man, and the very faculties that 
produce caution, prudence, foresight, suspicion, and closeness in re- 
gard to money matters, were not active; being away from business 
on a pleasure trip, new objects and surroundings called other fac- 
ulties into action, so that the man was entirely off his guard when 
thus approached. Then the whole thing was done so suddenly, that 
he did not think what he was doing, till it was all over and too late. 
Had the confidence-man made the proposition and left him a short 
time to consider about it, he probably would not have done it; or, 
had the favor been asked of him at his own home, he would most 
likely have acted more wisely. 

The confidence-man gained his point by first selecting a favor- 
able place and opportunity; second, he met him in a very cordial, 
pleasing manner; and, third, he deceived him and gained his confi- 
dence by telling him he knew his son; and then, by shrewd and 
quick manceuvering, got his mind in a sort of enchanted, bewilder- 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 151 

ed state, which blinded his natural perception and judgment for the 
time being. His memory was likewise inactive or stupid, and failed 
to remind him how others had been imposed upon. The case is 
very similar to that of a respectable young lady, who becomes ac- 
quainted with a worthless, unprincipled character, but not being a 
good reader of human nature she does not perceive his true charac- 
ter, and allows his winning ways and manners to gain her affections. 
But, as she is a very moral young lady, having much respect for her 
honor and good name, he finds that improper advances would be 
instantly repelled. So he plays the confidence-game on her, de- 
clares he loves her above all others, and wins not only her heart, 
but her hand, in the promise of marriage. Then, being in love, and 
engaged, she places implicit confidence in her betrothed, and, 
though she does not at first yield to his amorous demands, she only 
gently remonstrates. But he urges and pleads his case like a law- 
yer, and talks with the earnest eloquence of a silver-toned orator 
(at least it seems so in her ears), and he finally succeeds in making 
her see and believe that black is white, and the deluded and deceiv- 
ed girl, in a moment of excitement, yields to his sexual embrace. 
The rest of the story is soon told. Having accomplished his base 
object, he leaves her to her unenviable fate, a sadder, but wiser 
woman. She had no doubt heard of several who had been deceived 
in the same manner; still, she does not heed the warning, but lis- 
tens to the flattering talk of her seducer, tastes the forbidden fruit, 
and becomes an outcast from the garden of innocence. 

The second incident I wish to notice took place in New York. 
I was strolling along the street one night, looking at the sights and 
people, when a well-dressed man, apparently walking by in a hurry, 
suddenly stopped and stepping up to me commenced to shake 
hands in a very cordial manner, as they always do, remarking, "I 
believe I met you in our store to-day," said he, "my name is so- 
and-so, and I am in M clothing store just above here." "Well," 

I said, "you are mistaken. I have not been in that store." "Well," 
said he, " may I ask your name and where you are from ? " " My 
name is Willis, from Chicago," I replied. "Well," said he, "I see I 
am mistaken, but there is no harm done." "O, no," I remarked, as 
lie politely and gracefully bid me good evening. Now, I thought to 
myself, I shall not go far before I shall meet another of those fel- 
lows, because I supposed that is what he wanted my name for, 



152 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

to give to his accomplice, he acting merely as a sort of an advance 
agent. I walked on about a hundred yards, when another man 
stopped and accosted me in the usual warm-hearted way, as though 
he was an old friend, and pretending surprise at seeing me in New 
York, said: "Why, how do you do, Willis! When did you leave 
Chicago." "0," I replied, "I left last November." " Ah, indeed; well 
I have not seen you for a long time. I have just come on here to 
take my sister back, and expect to leave in a few days." After lis- 
tening to that kind of talk a few moments, I told him "I did not 
remember ever meeting him." "You don't!" said he, assuming as- 
tonishment at my forgetfulness, "well now, you think." I did; but 
still I could not think of ever having seen him. "Well," said he, "I 
have met you several times." I asked him where he had met me, or if 
he had been living in Chicago. Then he mentioned one of the lead- 
ing hotels and some other places; still I could not remember him. 
"That is strange," said he, as he shook hands again and was about 
leaving me, when he suddenly turned and invited me to step across 
the road and take a drink. I told him I never drank. "Well, won't 
you take a cigar, then." I replied, "I never smoke either." Then 
finding he could do nothing with me, he bid me good night and 
walked away. His game was to get on the social side of me by 
treating; then he would probably have proposed a walk or visit to 
some store or gambling place, when most likely another accom- 
plice would have put in an appearance and wanted to change some 
money, or get the loan of some for a few minutes; some kind of 
trick would have been resorted to in order to get my money and 
skip out. 

As there are thousands of people visiting cities who step into an 
auction room, never dreaming of the trap that is set for them, it 
may not be amiss to warn the reader of the class of confidence-men 
connected with them, and their mode of operation. I refer now to 
mock-auction rooms, not the genuine. But strangers, not knowing 
the difference, are as liable to get into the dishonorable, as the hon- 
orable places. I will briefly mention two of their games : In one 
case, one of the gang will dress up in a countryman's attire, and 
watch his chance. When he sees several strangers in the room 
who are liable to bid, he walks in and asks the auctioneer what his 
commission is for selling a watch. He further informs him that he 
is very hard up, and must sell his watch to get some money, stating 




ALLAN PINKERTON, 

The great and perhaps foremost detective in the United States; 
also author of "The Expressman and the Detective." 

He has a large amount of vitality, good perceptives, and very large secretiveness. 
He can smell a thief a mile off, and knows how and where to look for him. The width 
of the head indicates large executive ability, which, together with a strong constitution, 
rnve him energy, and enables him to prosecute, follow up and accomplish whatever he 
undertakes. 




A CONFIDENCE MAN. 



/ 



Note the small, flat, half-shut form of the eye, and that peculiar, palavering, hood- 
wink, peeping sort of expression accompanying them. Also, the long, sharp nose, which 
shows him to be long-headed, a planner and schemer; and the prominence in the center 
of the nose proclaims him to be energetic in his thievish business. The fulness in the 
upper and center part of the forehead joining the hair, is caused by a large development 
of the organ of human nature or intuition, and in its perverted condition is what particu- 
larly marks and makes him a confidence man. The perverted use of a large development 
of the faculty of intuition is the cause of a vast amount of imposition, trickery, and dis- 
honest games of all kinds and degrees. 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 1 53 

how much he paid for it (perhaps a hundred dollars or more), and if 
he can get so much for it, he will sell it. The auctioneer replies he 
cannot sell it on those terms; he will sell it for what he can get, but 
cannot be limited. Well, as he is in pressing need of money, he 
will sell it, bring what it may, and hands it over to be sold. They 
bid on it, and some stranger buys it for twenty or thirty dollars, 
and finds out it is a mere imitation, worth about four or five dollars. 
The other game is managed by the auctioneer. He puts up a bo- 
gus article for sale, and eyeing a countryman, calls him up, and in 
a whispering tone asks him to be kind enough to bid it in for him, 
as he does not wish to sell it for what it will bring; or he is partic- 
ularly desirous to have it himself. The visitor, to be accommo- 
dating, bids it in. Then the auctioneer asks him to leave a deposit 
of five or six dollars, so the crowd will not suspect the buying in, 
and he will refund it as soon as the sale is over. So he pays the 
deposit, and when the sale is over, steps up to get the money he 
advanced. The auctioneer, assuming an air of indifference, tells 
him that if he will pay so much more, he can have the article. Of 
course he remonstrates, but to no purpose. If he threatens to have 
him arrested, and calls in the aid of a policeman, another auctioneer 
has taken the place of the former, and of course knows nothing about 
the affair, and cannot be held accountable for the transaction; so 
the stranger has to lose the money he deposited, as it would cost 
him twice or five times as much more to look up the guilty man. 
The safest plan is not to invest unless you are sure what kind of a 
place you are in, what you are buying, and what it is worth. 

It would take a book of itself to give anything like a full descrip- 
tion, with the details of the different ways confidence-games are 
practiced upon people by professional humbugs, gamblers, burglars, 
whisky rings, political rings, bunko-ropers, faro-bank steerers, and 
the panel-game manipulators. 

Professional burglars are well dressed, and operate mostly on 
banks, or wherever they can get large sums of money. They never 
break into ordinary stores, or risk themselves at common small jobs; 
they go in for a big haul, or none at all. As for bunko-ropers and 
faro-bank steerers, I have only to say that if a man is foolish enough 
to have anything to do with lotteries and betting on games, it 
serves him right if he does get bitten. 



154 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

The panel-game is worked by a low, thieving class of prostitutes, 
who pick up their company on the streets, and take them to their 
rooms. The victim undresses, and leaves his clothes on a chair in- 
tentionally placed beside a partition in which there is a sliding panel, 
or small door, that can be opened without attracting his attention, 
and, by the time he is ready to dress, his pockets have all been 
emptied of whatever is deemed valuable. 

There is a large class of confidence-men who come under the 
head of dead-beats. They make it a point to get into the good- 
graces of persons far enough to receive favors they cannot obtain 
otherwise, and will even contract debts they have no idea of pay- 
ing, unless compelled to do so. They take advantage of acquaint- 
anceship for selfish purposes, even if it is at the expense and 
inconvenience of the person acquainted with. But some of them 
play their cards a little differently. They get what they want with- 
out paying for it, by an evasive, dodging way of doing business. 
They will try every scheme they can think of, and make all sorts of 
excuses, to obtain possession of goods without paying anything, 
and then the owner may whistle for his money, and, in some cases, 
will never see or hear of the individual any more. 

Some of the mean, stingy, fashionable women in Philadelphia, 
have been known to send their servants to a florist or hair store 
for samples, just before an evening party would take place at their 
house, make use of them for the evening to adorn their toilet or 
rooms, and then return them in the morning; or, perhaps, for looks' 
sake, buy a small or cheap article. If the merchant should send 
after his goods before the party has taken place, these fashionable 
liars would send word to the door that they were not in. or could 
not be seen, and to call in the morning. One merchant knowing 
of their tricks determined he would not be imposed upon, and 
sent his assistant back again with a positive demand for the goods, 
and he got them. If such people had a little more self-esteem or 
dignity, and less approbativeness or vanity, they would never let 
themselves down to such small, unwomanly actions; for it is really 
a polite way of stealing, or getting the use of goods under false 
pretenses. 

Another class of confidence-men are found among employes, 
such as clerks and book-keepers for firms doing a large cash busi- 
ness. They will attend strictly to business, and work very hard 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 



155 



apparently for the interest of the firm, so as to gain their entire 
confidence, and thereby a more favorable opportunity to abstract 
money in small quantities, or make a large haul of it. 

Then there is the society confidence-man. He generally comes 
from the class I have just spoken of, and is sometimes a combination 
of both. He wants to find his way into fashionable or refined soci- 
ety. He is not acquainted, and has probably neither money nor 
culture to put him there. But he is determined to be a society 
man. So he attempts, and generally manages through a little 
stratagem, to form the acquaintance and gain the good will of a 
society gentleman. He prevails on him to make a visit to some 
nice family, where there are young ladies, and introduce him. Or, 
he may, by attending a grand ball, be introduced, in an accidental 
manner, through politeness or courtesy. Anyway, providing he 
can obtain two or three introductions to first-class families, and 
receive invitations to call upon them, then by playing the role of a 
polite and entertaining gentleman, he works his way very gradually, 
but surely, into the upper class of society. 

I have in my mind an individual who will fairly represent the 
two classes I have just mentioned. Several years ago, before I was 
engaged in my present profession, there came to my office a man 
in the prime of life, looking for a situation. I was busy at the time, 
and did not make any close observation of his appearance, more 
than in a general way, as to what I thought his abilities were, which 
I concluded were good. He seemed to be, so far as business was 
concerned, just the man I wanted; and he proved to be the best 
person for the position I ever had or expect to get. He had his 
hat on all the time, so I did not get the outline of his head, and his 
mouth was covered with a light, sandy mustache; so there was not 
much to be observed without making a close examination. As to 
what his actual character might be, it did not occur to me at the 
time, for I had not made a special study of the features at that time, 
and I never ask a person for references, because the worst characters 
can often furnish the best references, especially in Chicago. A 
sporting woman rented two rooms in one of the finest blocks in the 
city, and gave the landlord's agent better references than any other 
tenant in the building. And the meanest (and I suppose I might 
say worst) woman I ever had in my employ was one who gave me the 
names of a prominent minister and one of his laymen as references. 



156 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

So I left the analyzing of the gentleman's character until a more 
favorable opportunity was afforded to study him; for I wish the 
reader to bear in remembrance that the faculties alone do not de- 
termine the character, but rather the education of them, and a 
phrenologist cannot always tell just how the faculties have been 
educated. He cannot tell whether a man has been converted or 
not, neither can he answer positively the foolish question so often 
asked, whether a man or woman is married, although he may do it 
in some instances. But he had not been with me many days before 
I observed traits of character that were objectionable — that is, little 
things that caused me to be somewhat suspicious; because, being 
in his company for a few days, I had a chance to study him more 
thoroughly, could study his actions as well as his looks. Still, I 
had heard nothing concerning him or his past character, nor was 
there anything in his present actions of a serious nature. He had 
a very annoying way of rolling his eyes to one side, and staring a 
person out of countenance during conversation, as if to make them 
yield to some power or influence he was trying to impress upon 
them. His mustache covered what would otherwise have been a 
disgusting-looking mouth, so that he could not have been called a 
handsome man. Nevertheless, there was more than one female 
heart that succumbed to his fascinating manner, for it could not be 
expected they would look underneath his mustache. Women only 
look at the outside of a man — I mean as a rule. He was a regular 
heart-smasher, and could manage to play a tune on more than one 
heart at the same time. Then he had two diamond studs, which 
always produce a wondrous effect upon minds not properly educated, 
and their beauty made up for what was deficient in his ugly mouth 
and wicked eyes. But he had another qualification — the gift of 
gab. He was an excessive talker, and knew how to do it to make 
a favorable impression. He likewise had some ability for vocal and 
instrumental music; so that putting all these little gifts together, 
he could wind a certain class of women right around his little finger. 
Not only had he a peculiar influence with women, but his pleasing 
way gained him many gentlemen friends and accommodation? 
among business men, which gave him an opportunity to contract 
debts. Phrenologically, he had large agreeableness, human nature, 
secretiveness, approbativeness and amativeness. Hence he was 
fond of the women, fond of display, fond 0/ exaggeration, fond of 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 1 57 

flattery and playing the agreeable, inclined to misrepresent and lie, 
oiling people all over in order to swallow them; and, having an 
insight into human nature, he knew just how to take people and 
deal with them. In order to get a stronger hold upon the people, 
he joined one of the largest churches in Chicago — represented him- 
self as being related to persons he was not related to, and as being 
a graduate of a university he had never attended; in fact, sailed 
under false colors. Thus matters went on until his extravagant 
assertions aroused the suspicion of one of his lady acquaintances; 
and she, relating her misgivings to one of her relatives, caused an 
investigation of his character. Information was received that he 
had robbed an express company, for which crime he had served a 
term in the penitentiary; had likewise robbed and swindled a former 
employer; had borrowed diamonds from a jeweler to wear to a 
party, which he had never returned; and had left two or three 
wives, one of them with a baby in her arms, and without a penny 
to help herself. He was brought before a deacons' meeting, when 
he was at first defiant and reticent, until he saw they had positive 
proof of his iniquity. Then he tried the part of a grief-stricken, 
humble penitent, though his tears were not very copious. But the 
deacons were not much affected by the dry-tear business, and 
allowed a reporter to write him up in one of the daily papers. 
They failed, however, to give a proper description of his appear- 
ance, so that publishing the affair did very little good to the public 
or harm to him, for he only went a few blocks from where he had 
previously been employed, before he found a position as porter or 
clerk in one of the leading hotels, when, after a brief stay, he man- 
aged to get away with two thousand eight hundred dollars; was 
arrested and again served a term in the Illinois Penitentiary, at 
Joliet. 

Confidence-men will sometimes weep, or try to do so, to accom- 
plish their purpose. Like a man who went to an artist to have a 
picture of his mother, who was dead, enlarged and finished in India- 
ink. Every time he called to see it he would weep. Finally, the 
picture was finished, and, watching an opportunity while the artist 
stepped into another room for a few seconds, he carried the picture 
off without paying for it. What kind of a man can that be who 
wiii steal his own mother's picture, and what must be his feelings 
when he remembers the dishonest manner in which he obtained it! 



158 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

There are so many ways and devices which men and women 
resort to, who are connected with good society as well as bad, to 
obtain goods and presents by unfair means, even though they may 
not be all offenses against the law, that I think it but proper to 
allude to some of them in this chapter. I will mention two or three 
incidents to show how prostitutes practice it when they want 
money. A certain prominent and wealthy man in a certain city, 
who was on intimate terms with the mistress of a fashionable house 
of ill-fame, and was also fond of the social glass, was confidenced 
out of hundreds of dollars in a single night. She made up her mind 
to have some of his money, and she got it, because a fool and his 
money is soon parted. One night when he visited her house, she 
made herself entertaining, got him to playing cards and drinking 
wine until he got boozy, and lost his common sense. Then she 
began to coax and tease him for money, and drew out a check for 
one or two hundred dollars, and prevailed on him without any 
difficulty to sign it; then she would talk with him a while and tell 
him he had not given her that check yet; and, of course, being 
drunk his memory was drunk too, so that he did not know what he 
had done, and, hence, could keep on signing as many checks at 
intervals as she chose to draw up. And this is about the way such 
women secure money from their wealthy visitors, or else by threat* 
ening to expose them. 

Another case is that of a young woman who was living with a 
young man, but instead of he keeping her, she kept him. On one 
occasion when her lover wanted a new suit of clothes, and neither 
of them had the money, she padded herself around the abdomen 
so as to look enciente, and went around calling on ladies and at 
the business places of gentlemen, stating she was about to be 
confined and was in urgent need of some money. Of course some 
gentlemen, as well as ladies, would readily give her a dollar or 
two, to get her out of the way as quickly as possible; and in that 
way she collected enough in a single day to buy her lover a splendid 
suit of clothes. And I got the fact from one of the contributors, 
who accidentally dropped into the room where they were staying, in 
a business block, and saw both of them, he with his new suit on. 

My third illustration, which will show to what extent and how 
low a sporting woman's conscience, if she has any, will let her 
sink, is of a woman who called on a former acquaintance, and stated 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 1 59 

in a sorrowful way, that her sister had just died and she had no 
money to bury her with. The lady took compassion on her and 
gave her fifteen dollars. A few weeks passed away, when as she 
was passing down the street one day, she was amazed and bewil- 
dered to meet the supposed dead sister. 

Two prepossessing young ladies, whose father was in reduced 
circumstances, desired to keep up their personal appearance, and live 
as usual. How to get the necessary money was the question of the 
day with them; and among the various disreputable ways which 
high-toned, poverty-stricken people resort to, rather than to honest 
labor, they chose the one they evidently considered had the most 
show of respectability. They did not like to steal outright, so, as- 
suming a sanctimonious air, they went around the city collecting 
for some charitable institution. But remembering the old saying, 
charity begins at home, they put the collections in their own 
pockets instead of handing the money over to the institution; and 
were only discovered in their fraud and imposition upon the public 
by calling on a generous giver once too often. 

Young ladies in good society who aim to put on more style than 
they have means to do it with, occasionally resort to a species of 
confidence-game. For instance, a gentleman invites a lady to at- 
tend a theater or other place of amusement, and she accepts the 
invitation. But she wants a new pair of kid gloves, which she is 
bound to have, though she has no money to buy them with. She 
devises a novel way of getting them. She waits till her escort 
arrives, dresses herself, and is ready to go, with the exception of 
putting on her gloves; but, much to her annoyance when they are 
ready to start, she cannot find them. She searches the room all 
over, but they are not to be found. Dear mamma looks too, but in 
vain. What is to be done ? She settles the matter by emphatically 
declaring she will not go without gloves. The gentleman, seeing 
the situation of things, is almost compelled to go and buy a pair of 
gloves. Thus she receives them, without having to pay or even 
ask for them in a direct manner. Or perhaps she wants a nice 
handkerchief. In that case she manages to leave home without 
one, but takes good care to discover the absence of it and make it 
known before arriving at the place of entertainment. No gentle- 
man would like to feel so small as to return to her home, if there 
was a dry goods store anywhere near, and she generally attends to 



l60 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

that part of the business. So he buys her a handkerchief, and, to 
appear gallant, he must needs purchase a silk handkerchief. 

But a more common way of extorting presents by young ladies 
having more cheek than modesty is, to deliberately ask for them 
about Christmas and New Year. I met one of those charming 
young creatures at a boarding house in New York, one season. I 
had stopped at the house at short intervals once or twice before, 
and on this occasion happened to get there just before Christmas. 
I had scarcely got inside the house before this young lady who had 
been to a female boarding-school on the Hudson, rushed into the 
parlor, exclaiming, "You are just in time to give me a Christmas 
present!" Then seating herself beside me on the sofa (because 
girls and women are very sweet and sociable when they want any- 
thing), she said: "Do you know what you can buy for me?" I res- 
ponded I did not. "Well," said she, "ten yards of black velvet 
will do." I replied in a half-joking way that that would make a 
poor man of me. "O," said she, "I would not give a cent for a 
fellow who could not stand that." 

Thus there are a thousand ways by which people gain favors 
and presents, by winning the confidence or taking advantage of 
their friends. And these little tricks are practiced more or less 
among all classes of society. One person will do another a favor, 
not out of a pure, unselfish spirit, but because he expects the party 
favored to return the compliment on a larger scale. That class of 
persons who are always fishing for presents are not slow to let one 
friend know what another one has given, and they invariably do it 
in such a genteel way as to make it a polite hint for the hearer to 
do the same thing. 

BLACK-MAILING. 

There are two forms or causes of black-mailing, one springing 
from an inordinate desire for money, and the other from a mean 
disposition and a spirit of retaliation. 

Desire for money is generally the cause, but occasionally a per- 
son who has been foiled in his designs, will seek to get even by ex- 
ercising spite and revenge, in some way damaging to the reputation 
of the individual disliked, and likewise make a demand for money. 
The case of Joseph and his mistress, mentioned in the Bible, fairly 
illustrates the latter class, with the exception of the money part. 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. l6l 

Some writer has said, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." 
Certain it is that he who bluntly or scornfully rejects a woman's 
love, will change that love into the bitterest hate, that knows no 
bounds or limits; and he who sternly resists a woman's amative im- 
pulse may expect his fair name to be shadowed with the black 
clouds of scandal. Poor Joseph got into trouble and jail by resist- 
ing the amative impulse of his master's wife, and John the Baptist 
lost his head through stirring up the animosity of Herod's paramour. 
And the reason of such intense feeling in rebuking a woman is be- 
cause her vanity or the faculty that produces it is wounded, which 
is always the strongest element in female character. Perhaps the 
best way I can explain black-mailing will be to cite instances 
which illustrate the mode of operations. While there are plenty of 
men ready to play such games, it is likewise extensively practiced 
by women. And in proportion to the advantages and opportuni- 
ties that come within the knowledge and power of both sexes, there 
are probably more women who resort to this practice than men. 

Some time ago two wealthy persons, living in one of the largest 
cities in the United States (the one a gentleman, the other a lady) 
were on the most intimate terms, but of an immoral nature. A 
third party, a gentleman, was aware of this fact, being well ac- 
quainted with both. He had a fine residence, but not much money. 
His wife went away on a visit, and he immediately resolved on a 
plan of making money. Meeting the other gentleman one day, he 
told him that if he wanted to meet his lady friend at his house, he 
might do so, his wife being away. His offer was accepted, and a 
time appointed when he would be there. Meanwhile the owner of 
the house had the hinges on the outside bedroom doors oiled, so 
that they could be opened without the slightest noise. He also 
made arrangements with two persons to act as policeman and de- 
tective, and to put in their appearance about the proper time. He 
left the outside door unlocked, and vacated the house himself after 
the arrival of the two unsuspecting parties. They proceeded to the 
bedroom, and closed the door, but did not lock it, making the work 
of their adversaries comparatively easy. The detective and sham 
policeman waited till they thought sufficient time had elapsed, and 
then quietly opened the door of the bedroom — finding them in an 
embarrassing predicament. Then came the tug of war. Twenty- 
four hundred dollars was the price demanded, to save all trouble 



l62 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

and scandal — four hundred dollars down, eight hundred in a few 
days, and twelve hundred at some further date. They got the four 
hundred on the spot, by both man and woman handing over all 
they had, both of money and jewelry. During the intervening 
days before the eight hundred was to be paid, they sought the aid 
of a good lawyer, who perceived it to be a case of black-mail, and 
so saved his clients from being duped any farther. Although this 
case is narrated to show the base and underhand trickery of black- 
mailing, it likewise shows that committing adultery maybe attended 
with more trouble than pleasure, and prove to be a rather costly 
affair, especially where the parties place themselves at the mercy 
of other people. 

A similar trick was played by a doctor on a young man clerking 
in a prominent jewelry store. The physician had a lady assistant 
in his office, the wife of another man, between whom the moral re- 
lationship was not such as it ought to have been. In his practice 
of medicine the doctor had become acquainted with the family of 
this man in the jewelry store. The clerk also had a lady friend 
whom he sustained immoral relations with, which the doctor was 
aware of; as he wanted money, the woman and he decided on a 
plan to raise it. They gave the clerk a pass-key so that he could 
take his young lady to their room or office when convenient. Once 
in their power they fastened the cords of evil influence around him 
thick and fast, and pretty soon came the demand for money — he 
had none to give. "Well," said they, "you can get some jewelry 
out of the store, then, we must have money." What was he to do? 
He did not want to steal, but the combined power of his passion for 
women and the strong pressure brought to bear upon him by 
the two black-mailers, was too strong for his poor conscience, 
which finally gave way, and he began a system of thieving from his 
employers. Gold watches, chains, rings, and other valuables were 
taken and given to the doctor and his associate, who either disposed 
of them for money, or made personal use of them. Finally the loss 
of the firm was discovered, and the young man arrested. He was 
connected with a fine family, and, by the advice of a personal friend 
of his father's made a full confession, which led to the arrest of the 
black-mailers as well. 

Business men are frequently the victims of female operators, who 
aim to make money. They visit their offices, and endeavor to hold 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 163 

private interviews, presumably on business. This point being gain- 
ed, they proceed to make their demands, threatening to charge 
them with criminal offense with some person, and thereafter to 
make it public, unless they hand over a certain sum of money. A 
merchant in Chicago was trapped in just that way. He was a man 
having a family and a good name, and, being sensitive and jealous 
of his reputation, feared that, if such a report as the woman threat- 
ened was circulated, many would believe it, even though there was 
not a word of truth in it. So, to stop the woman's talk, he thought 
it best to give her the money she asked, it being a moderate amount. 
He did so; she was pacified for the time being, but it was not long 
before she returned for more money. He remonstrated, but without 
avail. She had broken the ice by extorting the first payment, and 
would have the second — though nothing was said by her, nor did 
he expect that she would want any more at the time the first money 
was paid. He supposed that would end the matter, and that was 
why he gave it to her. But she had a different idea in regard to 
the affair; and so, whenever she wanted money, she would go for 
twenty dollars, as she felt disposed. Thus for years he was com- 
pelled tc pay out money for nothing, or involve himself and family 
in an unpleasant scandal. Had he refused the first payment, he 
could have saved himself; but, having given her money, she had 
him fast, because, in the case of a trial or investigation, the question 
would naturally be asked: If there is no truth in the charges, why 
did you pay her the first money? 

There is a kind of black-mailing connected with politics, where 
political leaders extort money, dividends or a percentage from 
applicants to whom they choose to grant offices, positions and 
contracts. But there are no threats of slander, or anything said or 
done to intentionally damage the character of either party. The 
political and business world is so full of transactions of this kind — 
where men compromise each other, buy and sell each other, and 
bestow favors in order to receive gifts, that the public is quite fa- 
miliar with this kind of corruption. Though such operations may, 
in the nature of things, blacken the character of those who partici- 
pate in them, still this is not their intention personally toward each 
other, and therefore these things do not properly come under the 
head of black-mailing. 



164 GONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

I will now mention one instance to illustrate the kind of black- 
mailing that is done through spite, retaliation, or for the purpose 
of controlling and keeping one or more individuals under the influ- 
ence of another, against his or her will. Or, to put it in other 
words, A. wants certain favors, privileges and liberties which B. is 
not willing to grant. A. gets angry over the matter, and endeavors 
to corner or place B. in such a relation or position that he will be 
compelled to yield, through fear of injury to his person or reputa- 
tion. In a Western city of the United States lived a young lady of 
more than ordinary intellectual capacity and culture. One of her 
most intimate and special friends was a man of rather hard-looking 
physiognomy, having a family and a remunerative position. They 
seemed to take a peculiar and remarkable interest in each other, 
considering they were not relations and the fact that there was so 
wide a difference in their ages. Now it happened that a certain 
man in the city advertised for a lady to assist in his place of busi- 
ness as clerk, cashier, etc. This lady answered, and obtained the 
situation, giving first-class recommendations. But she soon proved 
herself to be worthless as far as business was concerned. Her ways 
were dark and mysterious. She was harder to understand than a 
Chinese puzzle, and more difficult to solve than a mathematical 
problem. It was soon discovered that she had another dear gen- 
tleman friend, a young man. She would rise at five o'clock on a 
summer morning, and go out walking with him. He would gener- 
ally escort her to her place of business. The other one would 
occasionally take her home, or perhaps meet her at the noon hour 
in some restaurant. Thus matters went on until her employer be- 
came disgusted with her conduct and manner of attending to busi- 
ness, and was about to discharge her; but her tears and entreaties 
excited his sympathy, and he resolved to give her another trial. 
But there was no improvement, and she had evidently determined 
to get even with her employer by humiliating him, if she possibly 
could. With the assistance of two other parties, and by endeavor- 
ing to misconstrue a statement, she managed to make a little dis- 
turbance, for which she was peremptorily discharged. Her old 
friend was much displeased; it was such a convenient place for her 
and all parties concerned. It was a respectable place, and he must 
be made to take her back. A plan is devised. He goes to the office 
of her employer, jerks off his top coat, and struts around like a 



CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 165 

prize-fighter. But the employer had large firmness and good com- 
bativeness, and was not so easily frightened. Then the wrathy 
man threatened to publish a scandalous lie about him in the daily 
papers, if he did not reinstate his beloved in her position. But the 
employer was firm as a rock, informed him he could not play any 
game on him, and further told him, in a positive, decided tone, to 
leave, and not show his face there again. He left, and concluded 
not to do any publishing either. Now if that employer had taken 
her back to work, he would have been compelled to keep her as 
long as she or her friends wished her to remain, or be the subject 
of scandal. 

Two young ladies in the State of New York filled their pockets 
and dressed elegantly in the following manner: They would go 
out a few miles from some railway depot, situated in a well-settled 
country place, and stay long enough to make them late for the next 
train, providing they had to walk all the way. So, viewing a house 
of which they supposed the owner or resident was in good circum- 
stances, they would call and state their anxiety to reach the depot 
in time for the train, and their inability to do so on foot. The gen- 
tleman, perceiving them to have the appearance of well-to-do and 
respectable ladies, would feel himself, under the circumstances, 
bound to be accommodating, and would consent or offer to drive 
them to the depot, which was just what they wanted, and so they 
readily accepted the offer. All would be pleasant, the ladies being 
as happy and amiable as a child with a box of candy, till they 
would come near one or two other residences. Then there would 
be a change in the programme. The quiet, happy damsels would 
suddenly transform themselves into two screech-owls, and scream 
with all the vigorous power peculiar to their sex. This would 
naturally bring the occupants of the house out, to see what was the 
matter. Then the two fair maidens would boldly and indignantly 
charge the gentleman with having insulted them on the way. In 
one instance the gentleman was a man of means, and well connect- 
ed in society. He had been married but a short time to a lady of 
good standing, and so, for fear of the injury such a story might 
inflict upon his good name, and considering how scandal might 
mar the happiness and blight the future prospects of his matri- 
monial life, he gave them quite a sum of money to keep their 
tongues quiet. 



l66 CONFIDENCE-MEN AND BLACK-MAILERS. 

I noticed in an edition of the Chicago Tribune, April, 1876, a 
statement concerning the editor and proprietor of a certain quar- 
terly review, charging him with making a groundless attack upon a 
certain university in this country, representing the institution and 
its professors as inefficient, just because they would not give him 
from three to five hundred dollars worth of advertising. In this 
way it frequently happens that institutions and individuals are in- 
fluenced into advertising, paying sums of money for things they do 
not actually want, or else be grossly misrepresented in some man- 
ner through the press. This is really but another form of black- 
mailing. As to whether the charges stated in the paper relating 
to the editor are correct or not, I cannot say, as I do not know 
anything about the matter, nor have I seen either the editor, the 
article he wrote, nor the university referred to; but it serves as an 
illustration of similar occurrences. 

Sometimes men black-mail women, by finding out something 
detrimental to their character, and then going to them, threaten- 
ing to expose what they know, unless they give so much money, or 
allow them to take personal liberties of an immoral character — 
that is, they are to accord to them the same sexual freedom they 
have to some other person, or their deeds will be made public. 

There is, perhaps, but one way for a person to resist black-mail, 
and free himself or herself from its effects and consequences, and 
that is to take a firm, positive and decided stand at the very begin- 
ning, repelling the first pressure brought to bear upon them, and 
refusing to even compromise or yield a point that may, in the 
future, be used against them. 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 



The Dividing Line — The Young Lady who tried and failed to get into High Life — Phren- 
ology points out how ^he two Classes may Associate — Aristocratic Christians — The 
Faculties that Constitute Aristocracy — The Organic Difference between the two 
Classes, and what each needs to do — How to obtain Equality of Rights — The 
Hereditary and Educational Differences Existing between the two — The cause of 
Low Organism — How Children can be Born Healthy and Beautiful, Moral and 
Intellectual — Religious Character Transmitted — Why the Children of Ministers, or 
any pious person, sometimes turn out to be the Worst in the Neighborhood — Man 
Endowed with two Gifts not Imparted to Animals — The Conception of Christ — 
How to Transmit a Religious Character— Why Cain was a Murderer and Abel a 
good Man — Why the youngest Children of a Family are generally the most Beau- 
tiful and Best — The Educational Difference in High and Low Life — How the Poor 
can Improve their present Condition — The Faculties they need to Cultivate, and 
how to do it — How to Obtain a Finer Physical Nature — How the Poor are to be 
Elevated — Why the Sciences are not more generally Studied — The Stumbling-block 
in the way of the Poor. 



THERE always has been, and I suppose will be until the end of 
the world, a dividing line between the rich and the poor, the high 
and the low, the refined and the vulgar, the fashionable and the 
unfashionable. One may as well try to unite oil and water as to 
attempt to unite either of these two classes together on one com- 
mon footing. According to a statement made in a daily news- 
paper, a young lady from the common rank of society tried it one 
summer, and made a signal failure of it. Her father was a saloon- 
keeper, but he managed to make some money and sent his daughter 
— a good-looking girl — to a fashionable seminary, where she studied 
French and music, and other ornamental studies which such insti- 
tutions put young ladies through to fit them for society. Having 
completed her studies, she provides herself with a fashionable and 
liberal wardrobe, and wends her way to that fashionable watering 
place called Long Branch, though it proved to be a rather short 
branch for her. Arriving there, she engaged an elegant suite of 
rooms at a popular hotel for herself and maid. She had it quietly 
whispered around that she was an heiress from California. She was 
lavish with her money, drove out frequently in fine style, and the 



168 HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 

result was, the young society-bloods were love-struck. She was the 
pet of the house; the fashionable sensation of the place. Everything 
worked to a charm until one evening a grand hop took place, when 
a rich brewer stepped into the dancing hall to look on, and recog- 
nized her as the daughter of one of his customers. He made her 
identity known to a banker whose son was dancing with her at the 
time. The expose spread through the assembly like wildfire, and 
as soon as the music stopped she was dropped like a live coal, and 
shone only as the lone-star of the evening. The next day she quiet- 
ly packed her trunk and took her departure. A saloon-keeper's 
daughter as an associate with the aristocracy of Long Branch, was to 
them a sort of human mosquito they could not tolerate. But as to 
how much difference there is in point of respectability between the 
business of the man who makes beer and the one who sells, I do 
not know. True, there may be a wide difference between the 
wealth, and even respectability of the two persons, but as far as 
the merits of the two kinds of business are concerned, the one is 
about as good as the other. 

Phrenology alone shows the road in which both elements of 
society may journey together. Some pious people may think the 
gospel will do it, but the trial and experience of eighteen hundred 
years say no. There is just as much caste, if not more, in the 
church to-day, as there is in the world — just as much aristocratic 
feeling. The wealthy members associate among themselves, select 
their pews as near together as possible in the most desirable parts 
of the church building — will even pass the poor or less fashionable 
members on the street, and take no more notice of them than they 
would of a strange dog; and yet these high-toned hypocrites have 
the audacity to call themselves Christians — will get up in the 
prayer-meeting and talk about their love for God and his people — 
will pray for the conversion of sinners and for more love among the 
members, and as soon as the meeting is over, will, in a stiff, formal 
way, shake hands with birds of their own feather, but pass by the 
other members as though they had never seen them; or perchance 
they may condescend to coolly bow to them inside the building, 
if they happen to be standing right in their way. Now I do not 
say the gospel has not the power to remedy this evil; but the truth 
is, these conceited, high-toned specimens of Christianity will not 
allow it to influence their hearts to that extent. The gospel will 




A Specimen of Mulberry street, near the Five Points of New York. 



A good illustration of what the human face looks like without education. And by 
education, I do not mean mere text-book knowledge or school discipline, but that kind of 
intellectual and moral culture which refines and elevates the entire man. Education is 
the best means of improving and beautifying the face : even the formation of the lips and 
expression of the mouth, is fine and beautiful or the reverse, according to the amount of 
culture in the individual or his parents. Let those who want nice mouths and lips improve 
and develop their minds, and avoid bad habits. The above subject is also low in Organic 
Quality. 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 169 

do far more than tliey are willing it should do. But it is not the 
nature or work of the gospel to point out the difference in the 
mental and physical organizations of men, nor to show the deficien- 
cies of the one class and the excesses of the other; and until this 
is done, no permanent, radical change can be looked for. The 
gospel, therefore, needs the assistance of phrenology to show men 
their mental defects, while it appeals to the heart and will, bringing 
them into subjection to the will of God, but placing them in au- 
thority over the mind and body. The heart is that vital power by 
which men feel and worship. When that is right the mind is right. 
But when the heart is wrong, the mind is wrong. Aristocratic 
Christians worship God, if they worship at all, through their minds 
and selfish sentiments. They have no heart, or, if they have, it 
needs tuning badly. Nevertheless, these are the individuals that 
govern the church, controlling every meeting or society connected 
with it. And why do they? Because the other members are fool- 
ish enough to stand in the background and let them. Suppose a 
society is organized, in connection with a church, for the benefit of 
young people, how long will it be left in the hands of the young 
people ? Either the old fogies, who talk a prayer-meeting to death, 
or else the aristocratic portion will form a clique and get control 
of it, elect their own officers, and appoint their favorite pets to take 
part in the meeting; and as this class have generally less talent 
than desire for display, they run it into a dress show-off and amuse- 
ment society. There is no mental improvement about it, because 
such persons will not allow criticism, as it is just possible that some 
person having more brains, but less presumption, might be appoint- 
ed as critic. 

The faculties that chiefly constitute aristocracy are four: appro- 
bativeness, self-esteem, ideality and acquisitiveness. Not one of 
these is purely a religious faculty. Ideality is a semi-intellectual 
faculty; self-esteem and approbativeness are selfish sentiments; 
while acquisitiveness belongs to the animal propensities. There- 
fore, any person calling himself a Christian, who allows these 
faculties to take the ascendancy in his character, deceives himself, 
and the truth is not in him. There can be but one set of faculties 
controlling the character at the same time. Hence, when the 
group that gives rise to fashion reigns supreme, then the religious 
are subordinate. Only one master at a time. But, on the other 



170 HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 

hand, where these faculties are in subordination to the religious 
group of faculties, even though they may be large and active, that 
individual is not only a Christian, but one not ashamed of his pro- 
fession, and zealous unto good works — a noble, ambitious, pure- 
minded Christian. 

It matters not, therefore, where we find aristocracy — whether 
in the church, or out of it — its spirit and manifestations are just 
the same, when not strictly under the restraining influence of the 
religious or crowning faculties of man's nature. 

What, then, is the organic difference between the lower and 
upper classes? I mean the two extremes, leaving out that large 
and respectable class forming the connecting link between them. 
The lower class are deficient in just the faculties and qualities that 
the upper class have too much of. These diversities of character 
are partly hereditary and partly educational. So long as the com- 
mon people are ignorant, uncouth, vulgar and destitute of polite- 
ness and refinement, they cannot expect the upper class to asso- 
ciate with them, because their tastes and feelings revolt against 
persons and things that do not harmonize with their finely-formed 
and highly-cultivated natures. So they could no more delight in 
each other's company than could two persons who naturally disliked 
each other. Thus, while there is need of aristocratic society com- 
ing down a few steps from their lofty and self-elevated position, 
there is likewise a greater need of the common class ascending a 
few steps. The latter need elevating in their whole nature — intel- 
lectually, morally and physically. The working class can have all 
the rights and privileges they want, if they discipline and educate 
themselves up to the proper standard; and they need not go to 
college to do it, either. But so long as they choose to remain 
ignorant, vulgar in their ways and habits, living more as a mere 
animal than as an intelligent and progressive being, just so long 
may they expect to be imposed upon and trampled under foot by 
those of superior brain and culture. If they spend half the time in 
the education of their minds — yes, their entire nature — that they 
do in discussing the ballot-box and their grievances, they would 
accomplish their purpose, and obtain equality of rights much sooner 
than they can ever hope to do in any other way. Trades-unions, 
with their accompanying strikes, will not elevate their position. 
What the masses want is intellectual, moral and physical education. 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 171 

By physical education, I do not mean the development of muscle, 
but a finer, more perfect and beautiful organization. And by moral 
education, I mean the cultivation of those faculties to a higher 
standard, so as to impart a clearer perception and a grander com- 
prehension of truth, equity and purity. 

Let us briefly notice some of the hereditary and educational 
differences that exist between those of high and low life. That 
there is a vast difference hereditarily between the two classes, it is 
only necessary to place the children of the one by the side of the 
other to demonstrate. Hence the aristocracy of England always 
pride themselves on their lineage, regarding themselves and their 
ancestors as superior in blood and birth to the ordinary and com- 
mon class of people. Their bodies are more finely organized, softer, 
more delicate, sensitive and beautiful. And why all this diversity 
between the descendants of the rich and the poor? Because, in 
the first place, they have inherited it. The education, life and 
culture of their respective parents were as diverse, opposite and 
contrasting as black and white. Hence, it is evident, there can be 
no affinity between the offspring of the rich and refined, and those 
of the poor and vulgar. They cannot meet in the same circle of 
society, nor surround the same fireplace, until their culture and 
mode of life has more equality and similarity. Nor is the diversity 
of character any greater than the form or the features. Contrast 
the fine, artistic, Grecian and classical features of those in high life 
with the coarse, unshapely, ugly and deformed features of the low- 
life classes — for I am not referring to these two classes merely in 
a financial view, but chiefly in regard to their natural life and char- 
acter. The principal difference that exists, from an hereditary 
standpoint, is the organic quality. In fact, all other differences 
sink into insignificance in comparison with this one. It is the basis 
from which springs the general tone of character. It is predomi- 
nant in the higher and finer classes of society; but deficient in the 
lower classes, especially the rough elements. There is nothing in 
their nature — no desire in their common souls — to prompt them 
to a nobler life, or inspire them to reach aliigher standard in the 
scale of human nature. They have no affinity for anything that is 
pure and elevating, nor do objects of beauty, taste and elegance 
excite pleasurable emotions in their hearts or refining sentiments 
in their minds. Such persons feel much more at home in a house 



172 HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 

that is common, mean-looking and even dirty, than they would in a 
place scrupulously clean and elaborately furnished. Or, to be more 
definite, a cattle-yard, or one of those under-ground hell-holes, 
where lager beer is sold, and they can drink, smoke, chew, spit and 
act worse than any beast, would be more congenial to their tastes 
and feelings than a palace would be. 

The cause of low organism, or deficient organic quality, may be 
attributed to the ignorance and habits of their ancestors and the 
unfavorable conditions under which their offspring were brought 
into the world. It is astonishing how little men and women know 
concerning the laws and nature of their own minds and bodies. 
They know how to improve the breed of any domestic animal — 
will spare no pains nor study to better their stock by proper food 
and cross-breeding; but when they wish to bring a human soul into 
the world, a reflex embodiment of themselves, they proceed with a 
blinder instinct than the unthinking animals subject to their au- 
thority. How many men consult with their wives, or wives with 
their husbands or anybody else, as to how they can beget the most 
perfect child ? In fact the birth, or rather the conception, of a child 
is generally accidental, instead of being premeditated. Children 
may just as well be born healthy as sickly, beautiful as ugly, good 
as bad, refined as vulgar, religious as irreligious, good tempered 
and amiable as the reverse, intellectual as ignorant. Parents have 
no right to beget children without being in a proper physiological 
and mental condition at, and previous to, the time of copulation; 
nor should the mother allow herself to say, do, see or desire any- 
thing that will injure the mind or body of the child during gestae 
tion. Children cannot be born healthy if their parents are sickly; 
they cannot be beautiful unless their parents are either beautiful 
and properly adapted for each other or the mother's eyes see, and 
her mind constantly dwells on, something that is beautiful previous 
to the birth of her little one. They cannot be born moral, unless 
the parents cultivate the moral faculties in themselves. They can- 
not be intellectual, unless their parents have, in some way, exer- 
cised their faculties. They cannot be sweet-tempered and amiable, 
if their parents are of a fault-finding, fretful, irritable and discon- 
tented disposition. Nor will they be religiously inclined, if their 
parents have not exercised their religious faculties. I once heard 
a minister assert, while preaching, that religious character in 




AN AUSTRALIAN CHIEF. 



Low Organic Quality. — Showing a common, coarse organization, with a defi- 
ciency of the mental temperament, which is indicated by the narrow form of the head at 
the top. The low organic tone is shown in the animal form and expression of the face. 
Contrast this with Longfellow. Such natures make slow progress in intellectual and 
spiritual growth. 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 173 

parents is not transmitted to children, but he admitted that men- 
tal and physiological qualities were. His statement proved his 
ignorance of hereditary descent and the laws of the mind, and he 
probably never made a falser and more inconsistent assertion. As 
well say that only part of a man's brains are transmitted. Relig- 
ious character arises from the education of the religious faculties, 
and the religious faculties are transmitted the same as any other 
faculties. If they were not, there would be nothing in the mind or 
nature of men the Gospel could appeal to, and men would neither 
desire, appreciate, nor understand what religion was or meant. 
The idea of a God or future life would die out. Man would be sim- 
ply an intelligent animal, having no spiritual nature or moral char- 
acter. Children are not born in a converted condition, because the 
religious character of their parents is not perfect, and may be mis- 
directed or perverted. Likewise the education of the other faculties 
and propensities may have been of such a nature, even in Christian 
parents, as to more than counteract or counterbalance the religious 
character. Does the reader ask why the children of ministers and 
elders, or of any pious persons, frequently turn out to be the 
worst in the neighborhood? — like one, for instance, who was 
organist for the choir, and who, when his father commenced to 
preach, would steal out of the church, go where there were a few 
fast, godless young men, and play cards during the time of the ser- 
mon, but return to the church in time to play for the closing hymn. 
They are so for one or all of the following reasons : Either there is 
not much heart religion in one or both of their parents; or there is 
a lack of congeniality between them; or it may be that the strict 
and cautious life they feel compelled to live produces a feeling of 
dissatisfaction in their own minds, and, seeing so many of their 
acquaintances having a good, jolly time, going where they like and 
doing as they please, a hidden desire springs up in their hearts to 
do likewise, and though they may not yield to the temptation, or 
even express their inclination to others, neyertheless the mental 
desire is impressed upon the child in embryo; it will even be trans- 
mitted from the previous mind of the father in the sexual act, as 
well as by the thoughts of the mother after conception has taken 
place. But the fourth, and perhaps most important reason of all, 
lies in the peculiar state of the mind and feelings at the time of 
copulation. 



174 HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 

God made man but a little lower than the angels of heaven, and 
therefore much higher than the brute creation. He has endowed 
him with two gifts, not imparted to the animal kingdom, or any 
other terrestrial being — intellect and a religious nature, the last 
being the crowning glory of man. But, sad to say, and sadder to 
think, men do not aim to transmit a religious nature to their off- 
spring. People will go to church, and make long and loud prayers 
and sing psalms till their religious faculties are all wide awake with 
excitement. But when they go to the marriage-bed, they do not 
bring into action the submissive, molding and reverential influence 
of the religious faculties. Hence there is more animality and sensu- 
ality than spirituality stamped upon their offspring. Why did the 
conception of Christ take place through the power or influence of 
the Holy Ghost ? Partly that he might have a Divine as well as 
human nature, and partly that his soul might not be stamped with 
the animalism or sensuality of mankind, which certainly would have 
been the case if he had been born as other men are. But, to speak 
of Christ in a human sense, did he not inherit that submissive, de- 
vout, religious nature his mother, Mary, manifested ? Was there 
ever a nobler type of the moral and religious faculties, or a brighter 
and clearer intellect than that of Christ, considering him as a man? 
Does not the birth, life and character of Christ prove that a being 
can be brought into this world pure, if the parents are pure? 
Parents are not pure, therefore their children cannot be pure or 
perfect; but they might be far more so than they are. Would it 
not be well for those who labor, preach and pray to remember this 
fact and try to bring children into the world who will not need so 
much praying over? If this theory is erroneous, why is it that 
some have hearts as hard as adamantine rock, while others grow 
into a religious state, and cannot name the month or even year of 
their conversion? The latter class are those upon whom the relig- 
ious nature of their parents was impressed before birth — in other 
words, religion was born in them, just as much as poetical genius 
is transmitted and not acquired; while, in the former class, it was 
not; hence the great difficulty of impressing the truth upon their 
minds and in their hearts — because it is foreign to their nature. It 
is on the same principle as mesmerizing. Here is an operator and 
his audience. There are probably eight or ten in the audience he 
can put to sleep without any difficulty, because they are naturally 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 175 

in a mesmeric condition; but the majority require more effort, and 
in some cases repeated efforts; while some could not be mesmerized 
at all, for the reason that they were not in a condition to be acted 
upon. Burke says man is a religious animal; but how few realize 
the fact, much less act upon it ! The idea I wish to impress is that 
the procreative faculties (amativeness and conjugality), when ex- 
cited and exercised, should be accompanied by the simultaneous or 
immediately-previous excitement and exercise of the religious fac- 
ulties, especially veneration. Then it will not be necessary to 
preach and pray till they are gray-headed over the offspring of 
their mental impulses, to influence them to receive the truths of the 
Gospel. Does the reader want an illustration? Then visit the 
Roman Catholic Church; and where will you find a people more 
submissive, and more completely under the control of their relig- 
ious leaders? And why? Because there is no other religion in the 
world that so strongly exercises the faculty of veneration, and no 
people so devout in their worship, as the Roman Catholics. Even 
their young people are restrained, to a great extent, from that wide- 
spread vice of self-abuse, because they are taught to believe that 
the Virgin Mary is constantly looking down upon them, and would 
be displeased to see such vile and evil practices. I am not arguing 
whether the Catholics use their faculties in the right direction or 
not, but simply stating a fact; nor do I mean to say that they use 
them in that perfect manner I have been alluding to. 

The world need not look for the millennium just yet. The peo- 
ple are not ready for it. Man's moral and religious nature needs a 
higher state of perfection, which must be brought about by the 
proper education and exercise of these faculties, and their healthful 
influence on the marriage-bed, and the correct observance of the 
marriage laws in general. What the world needs are better born 
children; then there will be better men and women. Why was 
Cain a murderer, and his brother Abel a good man — both from the 
same parents ? They were born with their individual dispositions 
and inclinations. Cain was most likely born without the influence 
of the religious faculties — his conception taking place when the 
forbidden fruit was taken, and when Adam and Eve were rebelling 
against God; hence he was the child of the Devil. He was a mur- 
derer, because the animal passions and selfish sentiments were the 
strongest developed in his nature; for, in taking the forbidden fruit, 



\j6 HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 

his parents gratified their propensities without the influence, or in 
violation, of the moral and religious faculties. But when Abel was 
conceived, they had probably repented of their sin, and again 
brought the religious faculties into action, which reigned supreme 
in their own natures, and brought them into subjection to the will 
of God. Again, why are the youngest children generally more beau- 
tiful, and in other respects, better than the first born? (I refer 
now to small families, where the parents married young, and were 
in the prime and vigor of life when their children were born.) Be- 
cause, as the parents have advanced in years, they became less 
animal in feeling and more mental and spiritual in nature — that 
is, their character ripened. Thus parents can determine, to a 
great extent, if not entirely, just what kind of children they will 
have. If they want loving children, let them love each other; and 
if they do not and can not, they had better not have any. 

I have thus far spoken of the hereditary cause of high and low 
life; for in just the same way as the activity of the religious facul- 
ties or organs of the brain, in the parents, will produce a religious 
nature in the offspring, will the activity of any other faculty produce 
a similar result or corresponding influence on the character; so that, 
whatever faculties and propensities are the strongest and most ac- 
tive in parents, will be the most strongly impressed upon the minds 
of their children, and mold their future life and character. Low 
parentage will transmit a low nature, and a high organic type of 
parentage will transmit a higher grade of ability. 

The educational differences between high and low life consist in 
mental culture and mode of living. The lack of education on the 
part of the lower class, precludes the possibility of their holding 
social intercourse with those who are enlightened and cultivated. 
The uneducated have neither the language nor the ideas to converse 
with, and there is, therefore, no subject of interest that will draw 
them out in mutual conversation. For a man's conversation very 
soon reveals the grade of humanity to which he belongs. Moreover, 
the cultivated class are generally too proud and high-spirited to 
try and adapt themselves to the language and manners of the un- 
learned. Were they to do this, even if they had no other motive 
than that of charity, they would be lending a helping hand to raise 
their fellow-men out of their ignorant condition; because the easiest 
and most practical way a person can learn to speak with propriety 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 



177 



is to converse as often as possible with those who know how. But 
the immovable barrier has been set up between the two classes for 
ages, neither class making any great effort in the right direction, 
to remove it. And if it is ever removed, it must be done by the 
middle and lower ranks of society; because the upper class are 
content to have society just as it is (I mean the real aristocracy, 
whether in spirit or wealth — they who monopolize and subject the 
ignorant and poor to their terms and authority). People with full 
stomachs do not feel the cravings of the empty ones; hence the poor 
and destitute find the most .help and sympathy from the middle 
class. How, then, can the poor or unlettered class place themselves 
on an equality, or nearly so, with their present superiors ? Why, 
let them constantly and vigorously cultivate the same faculties that 
aristocrats do. Let them, by every possible way and means within 
their power, improve their intellect to begin with; then cultivate 
self-esteem, approbativeness, ideality, and acquisitiveness. By so 
doing, they will gradually breathe a different atmosphere — be more 
independent in mind, display more taste, refinement and sense of 
propriety, and, in fact, will become aristocratic in spirit themselves. 
By the cultivation of acquisitiveness, they will be more watchful of 
their own personal rights and interest — though there is not so 
much deficiency in the latter faculty as a lack of being used in the 
right direction. The cultivation of the former faculties, therefore, 
would impart a new impulse to the faculty of acquisitiveness. Not 
that I mean to say extravagant aristocrats, who make a fat living 
off poor people, use it in the right direction, but rather that poor 
people need more of the aristocratic feeling and spirit to bring them 
up to a proper standard — only in an honest way. 

The question here arises, How can these deficient or misdi- 
rected faculties be cultivated? And this leads us to consider the 
mode of life peculiar to both classes. There is nothing in the life 
and habits of the poor to develop the faculties of taste, display and 
manly self-respect. All their surroundings and associations are of 
a common and homely nature. They live in the despised, uninvit- 
ing portions of the city, and are generally content to stay there- 
Whereas, did they aim to work their way into better localities, or 
improve those in which they live, be more particular in regard to 
their personal appearance, adorn the interior and exterior of their 
dwelling-places, cultivate a small flower-garden, if they have suffi- 



1/8 HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 

cient ground, visit places of picturesque scenery in and around the 
town or city, and go to art-galleries or any places where objects of 
beauty and taste can be seen, they would greatly improve their 
minds and present condition, and command, at least, respectful 
recognition by the higher classes of society. There can be no 
advance toward a higher and more elevated life until the common 
people modify (in fact, entirely change) their habits of life. People 
cannot live like hogs, and look and feel like angels. It does not 
follow that because people are poor, they should be dirty and 
slovenly, and have everything around them in a similar condition. 
The same piece of goods that most poor people make their dresses 
out of, which look, when they are on them, as though they had 
been pitched on, could, with the exercise of taste, be made to fit 
and look much nicer; nor would it cost any more to make them so; 
and they could do it themselves just as well, if their faculty of taste 
was properly cultivated. They are not obliged to deprive their 
bodies of a frequent application of clean water and pure air, so es- 
sential to health and happiness; but they do it. A strict attention 
to personal cleanliness and neatness in dress would do almost, if 
not quite, as much to elevate the poor as education. For external 
appearance is really what makes the dividing line between the up- 
per and lower classes, and not education — I mean school education. 
Wealth, with its accompanying evil — fashion — may constitute the 
basis of the dividing line between the real aristocracy and the poor; 
but even there we find that physical perfection is almost as much 
the cause of separation; for the aristocracy look upon common 
people in about the same manner that white people have always 
looked upon colored people. There is such a vast difference in 
the texture, complexion and form of the two classes that the one 
repels the other. 

Suppose you take two women, one a fair representative of aris- 
tocracy, the other a fair representative of the poor and ignorant 
class. Then dress the ignorant woman in the aristocratic lady's 
clothes, and the wealthy, accomplished lady in the poor woman's 
clothes. The aristocratic lady would be as graceful as ever, and 
show herself a lady, and command respect; while the other would 
appear ridiculous and ludicrous, out of place and harmony — a bigger 
fool than she was before, for she would be at a loss to know what 
to do with herself. And why ? Because she has not the physical 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 



179 



grace, beauty and refinement to correspond. And the reason she 
has it not is because she lacks the mental accomplishments to im- 
part it. 

It is the mind that makes the body. In other words, we have 
bodies to correspond and harmonize with our minds. Fine minds 
and fine bodies go together. I am speaking now of the quality of 
the mind, and not the moral character. Therefore, let those who 
desire a finer physical nature begin with the education and cultiva- 
tion of the mind. The perfection and beauty of the body depends 
upon the perfection and beauty of the mind. Have the mind per- 
fect, and the body will become like unto it. 

But there is one serious difficulty in the way of poor people. 
The higher classes, instead of lending a helping hand to raise them, 
only help to keep them down. Instead of building comfortable, 
neat, well-ventilated houses, that can be rented cheap, for their 
especial accommodation, they build them so as to make the most 
money out of them, and then hold the rents so high that poor peo- 
ple cannot afford to live in them. It may not be intentional on 
their part, but the effect is just the same. Instead of being kind, 
sympathetic and neighborly, they only snub them, impose upon 
them and keep them in abject slavery, creating feelings of con- 
tempt, scorn and disrespect on the one side, and envy and hatred 
on the other. 

There is also a class of people who are more aristocratic in 
feeling than in their pockets, but possess enough means or are so 
situated in business as to be able to employ servants, or require 
help in their places of business, that treat their assistants with less 
respect, sympathy and consideration, than they would their horses, 
dog or cat; like a mean doctor in the State of Maine, who had a 
farm connected with his home. He took a girl out of the poor- 
house, who was not very bright, intellectually; and after taking her 
to his home, set her to do most of the dirty work about the place, 
clean out the stable, and take care of cattle under circumstances of 
an unmentionable nature. 

A farmer had a young man working for him who was taken so 
sick with a bilious attack he could hardly stand up, and went into 
the barn to lie down; he had hardly done so before his employer 
went to the barn in a rage, gave him a kick, and told him to get up 
and go to work. Very little sympathy is shown by women towards 



l8o HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. 

their own sex who happen to be employed in dry goods stores and 
similar places. They show no consideration for the poor shop girls, 
but make complaints about them to the proprietor or manager for 
the least offense, when they are perhaps so tired, worried and, may 
be, hungry, for want of their meals at regular hours, that they 
hardly know what they are about. And some of these, female shop- 
bears will spend from one to two hours just to change a piece of 
goods, and expect the clerk to put up with their nonsense, and 
smile on them as though they were her best friends. They who 
were born in affluence and nursed in the cradle of luxury cannot 
be, and are not, capable of sympathizing with those less fortunate. 
They who were never in straitened or impoverished circumstances 
cannot realize what it is to be in that condition. If Christ had not 
been subjected to severe temptation as a man, he could not have 
been the sympathizer with, and mediator for, mankind. So it is 
with human nature; one cannot know and understand the wants of 
another, and manifest the needed sympathy, unless he has been a 
like sufferer. Therefore the poor and untutored classes will look 
in vain for encouragement, in the struggle of life, from their high- 
toned lords. They will have to pick themselves up, or remain in 
the ditch. Men who were never under the influence of liquor, and 
have no appetite for it, are not inclined to lecture on temperance, 
and if they do they seldom accomplish much. It takes a John B. 
Gough to make a good advocate on that question. If John Bunyan 
had not sipped rather deep in the cup of sin, the world would not 
have been blessed with the " Pilgrim's Progress." Paul was the 
same energetic, arduous, persevering and determined man after his 
conversion that he was before, but he used his talents and power in 
a different direction. The greater the sinner, the greater the saint. 

Redemption for the poor and ignorant, therefore, must spring 
from their own ranks. One who has been there, and knows how it 
is himself, must be their champion, to advocate their wants, and 
raise them to a higher position in the world and society. Such an 
one is most likely to be a self-made and self-educated man — not 
one who has graduated from a university (unless he be a man like 
President Garfield, who toiled up from humble life and worked 
his way through college), because the ideas and language of such 
men are generally too high to reach the masses. Polished literary 
men must preach and lecture to polished people only. Their Ian- 



HIGH LIFE AND LOW LIFE. l8l 

guage is like so much Greek to the lower classes, and contains too 
much spice for their mental stomachs to digest. Flowery language 
is just the thing in poetry and fiction, but the pulpit and rostrum 
are not the places for it — though it may be proper in the latter 
when the lecture is intended to please the sentimental and emo- 
tional nature rather than to reach the heart and mind. Long and 
uncommon words do very well for professors and ministers to use 
in mutual conversation, but they must remember the majority of 
people never swallowed a dictionary nor entered a college. One 
reason why the sciences are not studied more is because of the 
difficult words used to express names and terms. Especially is 
this the case in anatomy and physiology. So that the most useful 
things for people to know — the very things they ought to know — 
are wrapt in mystery, hidden from their understanding, all because 
scientific men wanted to show how much they knew about Greek 
and Latin, and how little practical common sense they had. 

But the most damaging influence and stumbling-block in the 
way of the poor comes from the wealthy and fashionable members of 
city churches. They keep thousands of persons away from church 
services altogether. The style and airs they put on are too much for 
those in the humbler walks of life to endure. To be made to feel 
their inferiority in the outside world is bad enough, but ten times 
worse by those professing to be the followers of the meek and lowly 
Jesus. It is not uncommon to see a fashionable woman, belonging 
to a church, make a point of entering the sanctuary just after the 
services have commenced, so as to attract every one's attention; 
and they likewise appear to have studied and trained themselves 
for a particular mode of walking down the church-aisle, as though 
that was the most appropriate place and occasion in the world to 
show how fantastically they can walk or glide along. But then, her 
husband or father gives liberally to the church, and so it is all right. 
They will never discipline such a person for corrupting the church, 
by infusing into it the spirit of the world, and keeping out of it not 
merely the poor and ignorant, but those of the middle class, who, 
having self-respect and culture, feel their circumstances will not 
permit them to become an attendant of such a church — knowing 
full well that they will be scarcely noticed unless they can give 
freely and appear to good advantage. 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 



What it is — What it has done — Original Sin, in what did it consist? — The Evil andPowei 
of Flattery — Its Poisonous Effect — The Fundamental Principle of Sin — Why Flat- 
tery is so frequently used, and by whom — Two kinds of Flattery— How Children 
are Spoiled — Its Prevalence in the Church — How Pastors and People are Injured 
by it — Man-worship — How Women Tempt their Pastor — Presentations, and what 
they mean — Self-praise — Our Friends sometimes our worst Enemies — Criticism 
more to be Desired than Flattery — How Flattery affects Females — Other Forms of 
Flattery — Persons who are always Smiling — How some Women are ruined by Flat- 
tery — The Class of Men who make use of it — The Manner in which Public Persons 
are Flattered — The Woman with a Hundred Dresses — Vanity of Servant Girls — The 
Theater, its Influence upon the Mind for Good or Evil — Powdering, Painting and 
Padding of the Human Form — Artistic Taste and Ability — A Philadelphia Woman 
who wanted a Pretty Picture — What Persons mean when they speak Disparagingly 
of themselves — Why People use Flattery — Self- flattery — The Bible on Flattery — 
The Various Manifestations of Approbativeness — Results of the Mortification of 
this Organ — The Woman who tried to Shoot her Son-in-Law — How a Young Lady 
Avenged herself of an Insult — Cause of Retaliation, and Incidents Illustrating it — 
The Meanest kind of Meanness — What a Woman is — Her Weakest and Strongest 
Points of Character — Why there is need of greater Perfection in Female Character 
— The late Prince Imperial of France — The late General Custer — Doctors and Viv- 
isection — Manoeuvres of Young Ladies to Attract Attention — Origin of Kings and 
Queens —Vanity in School Commencements — Sunday-school Concerts — Why a Vain 
Girl hated Religion — The Proud, Haughty Behavior of a Young Woman in a Street- 
car — The Plain Old Woman — Conceit — Betting — Misunderstandings and Misrepre- 
sentations — Touchy People — How Friendship is Turned to Enmity — How Conceited 
People Talk and Act — A Conceited Doctor — A Dog and Elephant — Conceit in 
Relation to Religion — Two Convicts — Ingersoll — Long Trails — Quaker Ladies — 
Exaggeration — Lying — Historical Lies — Deception — The Woman who saw a Glass 
Stove — Whispering and Laughing in Public Gatherings — The Tell-tale Disposition 
— Troublesome Kisses — The Love of Power and Authority — Jealousy in the Ai-my 
— In Government Positions — In Associations and Boards— Funeral Vanity. 



Flattery is the most ensnaring art and powerful influence that 
Satan can bring to bear upon the human mind. It is the great- 
est soul-seducer in the Devil's catalogue of temptations, because it 
steals upon the affections in the most subtle manner, and entwines 
itself around the heart, secreting its deadly poison before the con- 
scious nature of the soul is aware of its presence. It is so palatable 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 1 83 

that human nature will drink it in like water. Through it man lost 
his first estate, and plunged the entire race into the vortex of sin. 

In what did the original sin consist, but, first, the flattering of 
Eve into the idea that she should be as a God, knowing good and 
evil; and, second, exciting her animal propensities? That is, the 
Devil first aroused her vanity, or the selfish, sentimental part of 
her nature, (so sensitive in, and characteristic of, women in all ages, 
for as Lavater has justly said, "Pride and vanity are in the natural 
character of all women,") and through that awakened desire in her 
physical nature. A similar form of temptation was brought to bear 
upon Christ. Satan first tempted his sentimental nature, and, failing 
in that, descended to his animal nature, and was here likewise unsuc- 
cessful, and so left Christ master of the situation, and the Redeemer 
and Savior of mankind. 

Now, if Satan had not considered flattery the most powerful 
kind of temptation, he would not have used it to accomplish the 
ruin of man, and especially to attempt the ruin of the Savior. 

The original sin, then, consisted in gratifying abnormal or im- 
proper desires. Mentally, the faculty of approbativeness was tempt- 
ed, and physically the propensities which give rise to appetite and 
desire. Whether desire arose from amativeness or the appetite of 
the stomach, I shall not discuss in this chapter. 

The evil and power of flattery lie in its hidden and unperceived 
nature, and in the manner it is presented and impressed upon the 
mind. No sin is more agreeable and pleasing, and none so gentle, 
fascinating and insinuating in its introduction to the soul. It is, 
like miasma in the air, unseen, and we are ignorant of its presence 
till we feel its effects, and hence it is the more dangerous. That 
which we can see, either mentally or physically, may possibly be 
avoided, but that which is silent and concealed from our view is like 
a pit or precipice in the traveler's pathway by night, into or over 
which he will most certainly fall. There is no kind of sin poor hu- 
man nature is so unable to resist, and to which it so easily succumbs, 
as flattery. It can bear all manner of abuse and evil treatment, but 
praise it cannot endure. Under its softening influence, it weakens 
and melts away like butter and ice on a hot day. 

Nothing will spoil men, women or children quicker than adula- 
tion; and there is nothing in the world people seek and indulge in 
more liberally. 



184 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

What poison in the air is to the body, flattery is to the soul. 

If an individual was about to take poison, and two kinds were 
presented for his use — one sweet, the other bitter — he would nat- 
urally take the sweet. Flattery is the sweetest poison the soul can 
take, and because of its sweetness, people forget it is a poison; but 
poison taken with honey is just as destructive to life as though it 
was taken with sour grapes. 

How strange that people, young and old, do not wake up to the 
soul-corrupting influence of flattery! Alas! there are plenty of 
Edens in the world at the present day. Thousands of persons will 
sell the birthright of their souls for a mess of flattery. The funda- 
mental principle of sin is two-fold — external and internal. Exter- 
nal sin is flattery; internal sin is selfishness. Satan awakened the 
selfishness of our first parents by flattering them. Thus there was 
an external force acting upon an internal. And this is precisely 
the plan adopted by men from the beginning till the present time. 
Whenever one individual wishes a favor from another, or endeavors 
to get some desire satisfied, and it is necessary to tempt them in 
some manner, they generally appeal to their selfish propensities 
through some sort of flattery. Thus flattery is the connecting link 
or means by which the selfishness of one person acts upon the 
selfishness of another. 

There are two kinds of flattery — direct and indirect. That 
which is direct may be observed; but indirect flattery is concealed, 
obscure, beyond the sight of ordinary perception. The majority of 
people look upon flattery as an innocent thing, because they fail to 
see the evil that lies behind it; and the most moral and religious 
classes of society are the very ones who practice it to the greatest 
extent. It is really their besetting sin, though they appear to be 
ignorant of the fact. Let a noted sinner, such as a drunkard or 
criminal, be converted and join the church, and if he has the organ 
of approbativeness large he will take great delight forever afterward 
in telling the congregation, whenever he has an opportunity, what 
a wicked man he used to be, and refer to some of his special sins 
as a contrast to what he now is. He does it as he says to show 
the power, goodness and grace of God; but, in reality, he is calling 
attention to himself more than to the Lord. And that seems to 
be the tendency with one religious class of people now-a-days, to 
please themselves more than the Lord, for they make their worship 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 1 85 

a sort of religious entertainment. So in Bible-classes and class- 
meetings, it is a common thing to find the leader flattering two or 
three favorites by constantly alluding to them, or personally ad- 
dressing them, and they always have a selfish motive lurking in 
their hearts for so doing. They practice it so much that it becomes 
second nature to them, and their familiarity with it blinds their 
judgment to its injurious effects. The disposition to receive flat- 
tery is generally stronger than the inclination to give it; hence 
many persons will flatter others for the purpose of being flattered 
themselves in return. 

How frequently we meet individuals who seem to feed and live 
on flattery, and they regard those who do not constantly praise 
them as being unfriendly. They are miserable if they are not the 
pets and favored ones of the family circle, church, society, clique, 
political party, profession, or any class or sphere to which they be- 
long. It is too often the case that, in religious meetings, a few of 
the leading or more active members are in the habit of doing most 
of the talking by having their say every night. A. will make pleas- 
ing comments on the thoughts suggested by B.; then, when B. rises 
to speak, he will return the compliment to A.; and so they make a 
business of tickling or exciting each other's vanity, and when the 
meeting is over, congratulate each other on having such a splendid 
prayer-meeting, when, in reality, it has been a mutual admiration 
and praise meeting. I has been in the first person, then Brother 

in the second person, while the Lord and some poor strangers 

in the back seat have been in the third person, by way of consider- 
ation. But let it be known that a stranger is wealthy, or holds 
some prominent position, and it is astonishing how many are anx- 
ious to shake hands with him, how glad they are to see and welcome 
him, and how much they are interested in his welfare and his family 
and his wife, if he has one, and if he has not, there are plenty of 
virgins, more foolish than wise, to relieve him of single-blessedness. 
In fact, these accommodating creatures have been waiting a long 
time, and have been constantly on the look-out, and when a new- 
comer arrives all the virgins in the church are in a flutter, on the 
tip-toe of expectation; and the lucky one feels something like her 
mother Eve when she received her first-born. I consider flattery 
one of the worst evils in church society. 

Ministers praise the people for their liberality, so as to get twice 



1 86 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

as much out of them and retain their good-will, and the people 
praise and laud their pastor to the very heavens, till they make him 
a spoiled child, puffed up with vanity and self-importance. And 
the result of it all is that both pastor and people become cold and 
indifferent toward those members who are not given to the same 
kind of blarney. In order to become popular in a fashionable or 
prominent city church, it is not so necessary to be pious as to talk 
sweetly and give liberally. Nothing will make a member unpopu- 
lar quicker than to be an independent thinker, and utter a few 
words of criticism and condemnation against any folly or evil exist- 
ing in the church. He may pitch into sinners and outside corpo- 
rations to his heart's content, but he must be a deaf mute in the 
saintly vineyard to which he belongs. 

Now one would think a people professing to be the followers of 
him who loved holiness would be anxious to know and remedy any 
besetting sin they may have. But their desire for flattery says, 
"No, we will not be rebuked or chastised;" and so, like the ostrich, 
they put their heads under their wings, imagining they are safe, 
while the enemy steals upon them. 

There are plenty of pastors and churches who have gone down 
by being blind to their own faults, and seeking to cover up, conceal 
and inwardly cherish their own weaknesses — saying to themselves 
and the world, " We are a great people," when the seeds of moral cor- 
ruption were fast springing up and choking their Christian vitality. 

It is a sad thing when one or more individuals are so conceited 
that they cannot see their own imperfections. But it is a sadder 
thing when they object to another person bringing to light and ex- 
posing to their view that which is of the greatest benefit for them 
to know. To be accidentally blind calls for pity; but to be wilfully 
blind is deserving of scorn and condemnation. Many of the errors 
in the teachings of the church are due to the exaggeration of Scrip- 
tural truth and doctrine through an excess of the organ of appro- 
bativeness, which gives rise to the spirit of flattery and conceit, and 
makes Christians boast, magnify and add more to the meaning of 
a passage than the original text implies. 

There is so much man-worship existing in churches that it is 
scarcely to be wondered at that some ministers lose their prestige, 
and occasionally do things inconsistent with their calling. The 
only wonder is that so many of them bear the intoxicating influence 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 1 87 

of flattery so well as they do, without showing any signs of mental 
derangement. It is not uncommon, in a prayer-meeting, to hear 
nearly every one who speaks allude, in a complimentary way, to 
what the pastor has said or done. In fact, they seem to put him 
in the place of Christ about as much as the Roman Catholics do the 
Virgin Mary. Thus every minister becomes a sort of Pope or 
priest among his people, and the members are expected to conform 
to his ideas or desires, and some of these exalted lords will even go 
so far as to think for their obedient dupes. This just suits a large 
class of members, because they are actually too lazy to think for 
themselves, and will readily pin their faith to any man who will 
think for them. 

Every true minister of the Gospel should receive due reverence 
and respect; but there is a point beyond which reverence becomes 
idolatry, and many women, in their admiration and devotion, seem 
to forget that a minister is human, and they frequently become so 
demonstrative in their zeal and affection that it is enough to stag- 
ger the rectitude and tempt the animal propensities of any man, no 
matter how rich in piety or honest in motive he may be. A min- 
ister in conversation with a friend on one occasion, stated that 
some of the young female converts would come to him, during their 
religious excitement, and sit on his knee, and throw their arms 
around him, and hug him like a father. But I fear there are very 
few ministers who could bear that sort of thing like a father. The 
cause of such outbursts of feeling arises from persons allowing their 
emotional and love natures to get excited as well as their religious 
faculties; hence their feelings get the better of their judgment. 
The reader must not infer, however, that such demonstrations of 
feeling, on the part of young lady converts, were mere amative feel- 
ing. It was rather the outburst of religious fervor toward one 
whom they highly reverenced as a religious teacher and adviser, 
but not as a man. Still, such actions are rash, and calculated to 
excite amativeness in one or both parties. There is some excuse, 
however, for young persons who act thus; but for the married wom- 
en, and those much advanced in life, to practice their fascinating, 
beguiling, smooth-talking and flattering arts on their unsuspecting 
pastor is to love their neighbor a little more than their Bible re- 
quests them to do, and is sometimes the beginning of domestic 
troubles in one or more families of the flock. 



1 88 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

What is this presentation business, so extensively indulged in 
all over Christendom, but another form of flattery ? Frequently 
these presents are bought by subscriptions from the leading mem- 
bers, or those who most admire or are most intimate with the pas- 
tor. Consequently these parties expect and receive more visits 
and sunny smiles than the other members who did not contribute, 
because they were either not able or were not asked to do so. It is 
evident, then, that there is much selfishness mixed up with the 
motive that prompts a large number of presentations. There are 
plenty of persons connected with churches who give largely, either 
to be praised and considered liberal and become the leading spirit 
in the church, or else through business policy, just in the same way 
as many men are honest — not because they love equity and up- 
rightness, but because they think it pays to be honest, or appar- 
ently so, in business transactions. Paul says, " Though I give my 
body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing;" 
— clearly indicating that one may be liberal in bestowing gifts for 
religious purposes without any love for the object to which he gives; 
and, as a rule, men expect an equivalent of some kind for what they 
give. He who makes a present to another expects in return the 
good-will, esteem or affection of the receiver; and he who gives to 
any benevolent religious object expects its value in popularity or 
business. 

The spirit of self-praise, in some churches, is very strong. The 
sums of money they have given to religious enterprises during the 
year is compared with that of others, and they delight in and boast 
of raising the largest contributions. If they are raising money for 
a special purpose, say the enlarging or building of a new edifice, 
there is sometimes a roll of honor made on which are written, to 
be preserved, the names of the givers, and how much they gave; 
that, of course, excites ambition and vanity, and as a result parents 
not only put down their own names and subscriptions, but those of 
their children also, and they will even go so far as to put down the 
names of their dead children and attach a subscription opposite. 
Such performances are really the outgrowth of a morbid state of 
the moral and selfish sentiments, and the only good if it can be 
called good that results from it, is the raising of a few extra dollars. 
The great work they are doing seems to be upon the lips of every 
active member, and they glory in spreading the fame of the church, 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 1 89 

forgetting - the injunction of the Scriptures, "Let not your right 
hand know what your left hand doeth," or "Let the lips of another 
praise thee." It appears to me that people should give or be influ- 
enced to give to religious objects through a feeling of love and 
principle, and that the roll of honor business is a base, unchristian 
and demoralizing method of raising money. 

There is a species of flattery peculiar to the church, and another 
peculiar to the world. The latter kind is sought and given by all 
classes, from Bridget in the kitchen, to the head of the nation. 
There is probably nothing else so sweet and inspiring to the former 
as a little flattery. Colored persons are likewise very sensitive to 
praise. They appreciate it next to a good, hearty meal. 

Many are the individuals whose eyes will brighten up and sparkle 
like diamonds when flattering comments fall upon their ears; where- 
as severe criticism and censure call forth the expression of indigna- 
tion and hate. 

It frequently happens that our friends are, in some respects, our 
worst enemies, because, being somewhat blind to our faults, they 
fail to point them out, or else will not do it for fear of injuring our 
feelings. Then the kind treatment and words of praise from friends 
cause us to over-estimate ourselves, and thereby prevent us from 
perceiving and remedying our weaknesses, imperfections and offen- 
sive faults; whereas our enemies are not slow in pointing them out. 
They hold us up, as it were, in a mirror, so that we can see ourselves 
as others see us. 

Thus flattery deceives and holds us back, while criticism pre- 
sents the plain, naked truth, gives us a better and more correct 
notion of ourselves, brings out the latent energy within us, and 
prepares us for a greater and more useful sphere of labor. I have 
known persons, in literary or mutual improvement societies, to 
crave flattery, while positively refusing to be criticised. With such 
individuals, knowledge will be very limited. They will never make 
any progress beyond a certain point. They prefer to say or read 
something funny, that will excite the faculty of mirthfulness in 
others, and then take their seat amid the clapping of hands; but are 
too narrow-minded and conceited to allow any one to point out 
their mistakes or show them wherein they might have been more 
successful. 



190 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

There is no better schooling for a person than severe and cor- 
rect criticism (I do not mean sarcastic criticism, though that is 
better than none), however unpleasant and lacerating it may be to 
the feelings. And those persons who are the most sensitive to it, 
are the very ones who most need it, because, being so sensitive and 
opposed to criticism, they are more susceptible to the injurious in- 
fluence of flattery. I suppose one reason why the evils of flattery 
are not more generally recognized is because it is instilled into the 
mind in the innocent days of childhood, and hence forms a part of 
one's education. When visiting a school in Brooklyn, N. Y., I was 
invited by the courteous president into one of the class-rooms to 
witness and hear an improved or new method of teaching French to 
children. The parents and friends of the little folks were there 
also, and the lesson was somewhat in the form of an examination to 
show the parents what the children had learned in a certain time. 
Most of the children were dressed plain, but one in particular sat in 
the front seat dressed up like a doll. They had been taught chiefly 
the names of certain things that they had on them about them or 
in the room, and so when the name of a certain thing was given 
they would go and point it out. When the little dressy girl's turn 
came she was given the word doll in French, and immediately 
stepped over to the table and picked up her doll, almost as large as 
herself, said two or three words in French and laid it down. As 
soon as she was through, two large bouquets were presented to her, 
sent in, I suppose, by her friends, because the other children who 
were plainer in dress but smarter in intellect received nothing. 
There was a pause and a moment of sensation as the doll girl re- 
ceived her beautiful flowers and took her seat. I watched the 
countenances of the other children and felt pained and provoked 
myself, as I saw the sad, disappointed, and even mortified expression 
steal over the faces of a number of the others, and thought to my- 
self that is one way of educating children to be vain and to crave 
for finery rather than knowledge. We see it again in the family 
home. Little Miss Precocious is the pet of the family, and is soon 
taught to believe that she is a being of some importance and worthy 
of special notice; hence vanity sits enthroned, governs her whole 
conduct, and she is a spoiled child before she is fifteen years of age. 
She is quick to learn vocal and instrumental music, and receives 
many compliments for her ability and rapid improvement. Her 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 19I 

mamma makes her the subject of conversation with every acquaint- 
ance who calls, and some who hear her play or sing are so generous 
with their compliments that the child begins to think she is but a 
little lower than the angels in Heaven she has been singing about. 
Let us, in imagination, visit another family. Here is another little 
miss, who is remarkable for her beauty and graceful manners. Her 
parents are fond of her; she is not long in observing this, and soon 
becomes affected in the same manner. She has many admirers, who 
are profuse in their expressions of esteem. She is the recipient of 
many favors and much attention, which others less handsome are 
not fortunate enough to receive — though they may be thankful they 
do not. The vanity of her parents knows no bounds. She is in- 
dulged to excess, allowed to have her own way, and educated or 
trained for a fashionable life. She has one object in view that 
towers above all others. It occupies her thoughts even more than 
the marriage altar. She must be a star of the first magnitude at 
every ball or party — the belle of the city and the diamond queen of 
society. Such a woman appreciates and measures men according 
to their wealth and the amount of flattery they have to bestow. 
Those whose lips do not extol her charms she does not like, and 
those who cannot pay extravagant bills she has no use for. She is 
a mere butterfly, who can only live in the warm, congenial sun of 
prosperity and pleasure. She is a sort of sunflower, who turns her 
head in whatever direction the attraction of fashion may be. She 
is like unto some of our garden flowers, beautiful to look upon, but 
having no fragrance; and like some of our birds of beautiful plumage 
which are poor singers. When she passes from society, her name is 
forgotten, and the glory of her youth has faded forever. She was 
simply a thing of physical beauty — only that and nothing more. 
She might have been beautiful in mind as well as form; but she 
yielded to the corrupting influence of flattery, and that ruined her. 
Flattery in her own heart, flattery from friends, and the flattery of 
false appearances, all entwined around her soul, and crushed out 
the very essence of a noble life. And what is true, in this respect, 
of a woman is likewise true of a man. 

But suppose misfortune to overtake one of these fair, vain crea- 
tures called women; or if, perchance, she is married, and her hus- 
band's income is not large enough to support her reckless style of 
living; what will, or does, such a woman do? One of two things — 



192 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

either steal, or prostitute her person. I know these are two strong 
words to use; but, as I do not believe in flattery, I propose to call 
things by their right names. The first thing she will do will be to 
tax her feminine ingenuity, which is a peculiar gift of women, to see 
if she cannot devise some way or means of obtaining more money, 
which she can generally do if her husband occupies a place of trust 
and influence in society. She may not (in fact, does not) steal in a 
direct manner herself, but she will be the instigator of a plan or 
scheme by which her husband, or some other person, would steal 
for her, either directly or indirectly. But if she fails to raise money 
in some such manner, rest assured she will resort to prostitution, 
either public or private; for such a woman would never be satisfied 
to walk in the humbler circles of society, casting aside her rich 
dresses and costly jewelry. 

I do not assert that personal compliments or praise will bring a 
woman to this condition, but there are other forms of flattery, which 
exert a very strong influence on the human mind: those which arise 
from external appearances, and present alluring temptations be- 
cause of their splendor and glittering, dazzling, fascinating power 
to the eye of the observer. I class these things under the head of 
flattery because they are so deceiving and intoxicating to both men 
and women and produce the same effect on the mind that personal 
flattery does. Therefore, considering flattery as a name for all de- 
ceptive, artful, enchanting and pleasing influences that act upon 
the mind, it is the most powerful seducer the human soul has to 
encounter and battle with, and we need not wonder that so many 
persons become its victims instead of victors. 

The most contemptible kind of flattery is that which is given 
just for the sake of being polite and agreeable, or commending in 
words of praise when not sincere in so doing — praising another for 
policy's sake, in order to gain some advantage or favor. To render 
praise which we do not mean is simply a polite way of lying on our 
part, and a positive injury to the party we have deceived; and yet 
this is a common practice with persons who consider themselves 
good people. Miss A. has some acquaintances who call on her 
occasionally. She dislikes their company, and would rather have 
them stay away; nevertheless she meets them in a pleasant, friendly 
manner at the door, tells them she is delighted to see them, that 
they are almost strangers — it is so long since they have called. 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 193 

She entertains them, and makes herself as agreeable as possible. 
When they are about leaving, she asks them why they are in such a 
hurry — why not stay a little longer; and if they insist on going, she 
invites them to call again whenever convenient, and even kisses them 
good-bye. But she has scarcely closed the door on them before she 
changes her tune, and in a half-passionate mood, declares she would 
rather have their room than their company, or words to that effect. 

Those persons who are always so smiling and agreeable in their 
intercourse are the quickest to turn sour whenever they are dis- 
pleased. This winning and pleasing manner is very often assumed 
— put on for the occasion. In other words, it does not come from 
the heart. Some business men will smile at their help one minute, 
and shortly afterward turn around and discharge them for a trifling 
offense. There are plenty of women who cannot endure a stern or 
sedate look; it seems to freeze them. They prefer the society of 
one who has winning ways and happy smiles. But there is often a 
better heart behind a sober, penetrating eye than there is in the one 
whose face is lit up with sunny smiles; for he who draws and melts 
with a smile, can likewise repel and freeze with a frown. The flat- 
tery of smiles too often gains on people to their own disadvantage. 
They place us in a negative condition to others, so that we are the 
more easily acted upon; whereas a stern countenance leaves us in 
a positive relation. 

With evil-disposed, unprincipled men, flattery serves as a wedge 
by which they ingratiate, press or force themselves into the good- 
will and affection of women, and, like Satan, when he gains a slight 
entrance into the human heart, work their way farther and farther 
into the confidence of their victims until they accomplish their ruin. 
Many a bright and fair damsel, who had been the pride and joy of 
her parents, has been brought to grief by the cunning flattery of 
her seducer. And the parents who despise and sometimes turn 
their backs upon the daughter who has fallen from virtue, are the 
very ones who have most encouraged the ensnaring sin. They see 
the effect but not the cause. No man of sense, who has any true 
regard for a woman, will deliberately flatter her. Flattery is the 
Devil's weapon, and he who uses it has a devilish purpose in so 
doing. But women who have a cultivated intellect cannot be flat- 
tered in a direct manner; hence, shrewd men resort to what I term 
indirect flattery. 



194 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

If a man wishes to gain the confidence and friendship of a mar- 
ried woman who has a child she indulges, he will flatter it, and be 
very kind to it, thus winning the heart of the mother through her 
child. If he can find the slightest matrimonial discord, he will 
strongly sympathize with her, and try to convince her that she is 
too gcod and worthy a woman for such a man as her husband. If 
she be a single lady, he will praise her very highly to some of her 
friends, who will be sure to go and tell her all he says — though I 
do not say every man who praises a young lady in the presence of 
her friends or herself has any immoral motive. Such may be the 
case, or he may simply wish to gain her esteem, or become a special 
favorite. Nevertheless, every woman ought to be on her guard, let 
flattery come from whomsoever or whatever source it may. She 
should likewise use her judgment to distinguish between flattery 
and just and friendly commendation and praise. Of the two ex- 
tremes, one had better not receive enough than too much praise. 

Public persons are frequently flattered through the press, espec- 
ially actors and actresses; and frequently private individuals are 
flattered through the newspapers on account of their appearance 
at some fashionable ball or party; and yet, I have sometimes 
thought, the dresses and jewelry of such persons are praised more 
than the originals; indicating that the fashionable world is more 
interested in dresses and diamonds than in the persons who wear 
them. In fact, the individuals themselves are more anxious and 
better satisfied to see a printed description of their elegant and 
costly adornments, than they would be to see a description of the 
qualities and jewels that adorn their minds. 

Nowhere is the vanity of women more apparent than in dress 
and the efforts and sacrifices they will make to dress, see and be 
seen. I examined a lady's head at Richfield Springs, N. Y., one 
summer, and told her she had too much love of praise and flattery, 
and was too sensitive in her feelings. The following summer I met 
her husband in the White Mountains, who introduced himself to 
me, and after getting a chart of his own head, told me that his wife 
would take twenty dresses to a summer resort with her, and change 
her dress three or four times a day if she thought she could attract 
attention by so doing; that she was making her hundredth dress 
and still was not satisfied, and thought he did not care for her nor 
use her right. Poor woman ! It is a wonder she did not apply for 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 195 

a divorce on the ground of cruelty and neglect ! It seems to be the 
ambition of some fashionable women to have as many changes of 
dress and toilet as they can. I read a statement in a newspaper 
from a Saratoga correspondent, that a certain lady who was stop- 
ping at one of the hotels there, had not repeated a toilet once in 
three weeks, and arrayed herself in two or three different dresses 
daily. As to how true it is, I do not know; but judge from my own 
observations that there is more truth than poetry in it. 

Nor is the feeling of vanity and passion for dress confined to 
the aristocracy, or any particular class of women; it runs through 
the whole sex, especially in civilized countries, and the United 
States in particular. Servant girls are almost as bad as those they 
work for and wait on, and some of them worse. The keeper of a 
boarding house in Salem, Mass., told me her former cook had a 
dress that cost over one hundred dollars, and that she paid fifteen 
dollars to have a chemise made; that one of her girls in the kitchen 
had a dress which cost nearly one hundred dollars. She had a 
pretty face, and I suppose she thought she might as well have a 
dress to correspond. Who knows now-a-days when passing a well- 
dressed woman on the street, or seeing her in some public gather- 
ing, whether she is a mistress or a servant, a society belle or a 
kitchen belle; that is, if you judge her simply by her dress. Cooks 
and dining-room girls will save their wages for months in order to 
have a fine dress and feathers in their hats, all to attract attention 
and catch a beau, a husband, or a flirt. How truly has some person 
said: "It is the eyes of others that ruin us, not our own." 

There is another form of flattery which may come under this 
head. I refer to that which makes men and women so fond of the 
theater, and of any richly-furnished, tasty, elegant place of amuse- 
ment or recreation. I am not discussing here whether theater-going 
is right or wrong; but one thing is evident: the world furnishes us 
more objects of beauty and pleasure than the church does. As the 
human mind craves for these two things, people will go where they 
are to be seen. Of course, it is not the mission of the church, as a 
church, or religion, to furnish objects of beauty or amusement, but 
to save souls; but it is the duty of society, whether in the church 
or out of it, to provide some kind of moral amusement to meet a 
demand in man's mental and physical organization, which is just as 
necessary to be fed as his stomach. 



196 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

But to return to the subject. There is a kind of flattery belong- 
ing to the theater which seems to entrance the mind, and which is 
so powerful in its effect upon some that it creates an insatiable 
desire for theater-going, and unfits them for the stern realities of 
life. Life to them is a sort of dream or delirium. They see nothing 
in a practical light, or in its true nature; hence their idea of people 
and things are fictitious. This is simply because what they have 
seen has been fictitious, or a reality flattered; and they have not 
looked beyond the external vail to see the reality behind. They 
are affected only by that which pleases the fancy or excites the 
imagination. Did they but perceive and think a little, they could 
read the lesson which every play is intended to convey. 

Thousands of persons become stage-struck because they are 
sensitive to flattery, or anything of a superficial nature; but they 
have little idea how much hard work and close application there is 
attending a theatrical life. But there are a great many people who 
go to a theater just to be amused. Unable to entertain themselves, 
they are willing to pay others to do it for them. They belong to 
that giddy, harmless class of the community, who never think 
intently on any subject — never exercise or try to develop their 
mental powers; and, so far as intelligence is concerned, are little 
better than the brute creation. They only gratify their animal or 
selfish propensities. And this is one reason why theaters do not 
rise higher in the character of the plays presented. The majority 
of regular theater attendants are of the class I have just described; 
hence the managers pander to their taste, and put on the stage the 
plays that suit the people. 

What means all this powdering, painting, stuffing and padding 
business, so extensively practiced in the cities of the United States, 
but a desire to flatter and present a better appearance than nature 
has bestowed, though it generally detracts from, instead of improv- 
ing, the personal beauty. There are women who would feel insulted 
to be considered anything but perfect ladies — religious ones at that 
— who powder so excessively, on extra occasious, as to make them- 
selves look more like the daubed actresses of a low variety-stage 
than pure-minded, respectable women. If they have a picture 
taken, the artist must make it look fifty per cent, better than the 
original, or else they are dissatisfied; and he is sure to lose their 
patronage, and his reputation as an artist, so far as they are con- 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 1 97 

cerned. Let a painter execute a portrait in oil or water colors, and 
put a healthy color in the face; they will probably object to it. 
They would rather have a sort of deathly-pale complexion, similar to 
what they get by powdering, which imparts the most sickly appear- 
ance to the face one can imagine. But, then, they know more about 
how a picture ought to be than the artist, and so he must succumb 
to their whims or lose his money and his practice. And yet these 
knowing individuals could not tell the names of the three primary 
colors and their complementaries. In fact, many persons do not 
study colors enough to know which is the complementary of their 
own complexions. When art and artists occupy their proper 
positions in the minds of the public, they will execute and finish 
pictures as they think best, and not be controlled by the whims of 
purchasers. 

A lady of ordinary appearance went to a photographic artist in 
Philadelphia, to have her picture taken and painted on a porcelain 
plate, for a Christmas present to her husband. She told the artist 
she wanted something beautiful and finely finished; she was not so 
particular about the likeness as she was to have a pretty or flatter- 
ing picture. Accordingly the artist did his best and painted a 
beautiful picture, much better looking than the original. She took 
it home and gave it to her husband, who returned to the gallery a 
few days afterwards with the picture and his wife, stating that it 
was not a good likeness; said he, "This is fine work and a beautiful 
picture, but it does not look like my wife, and I want a likeness of 
her." When the reception-room lady who took the order reminded 
the lady that she ordered a good-looking picture regardless of like- 
ness, she replied: "Yes, I know I wanted it pretty, but I thought 
you could make it so and keep the likeness too." So the artist 
had to do his work over again, just on account of the woman's 
vanity and her desire to be flattered; or, in other words, because 
she got the artist to paint a lie for her. 

I am aware there are plenty of men and women in the picture 
business who know no more about art than their customers, and 
sometimes not so much; but what business have people to patronize 
such miserable daubers ? Thousands of men and women flatter 
themselves they have artistic ability, and become painters or pho- 
tographers, palm off upon the people distorted, indistinct, unnatural 
pictures, freaks of their imagination. I remember seeing an oil 



198 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

portrait of a lady, painted by one of these art know-nothings, that 
was one of the worst distortions of humanity I ever saw or wish to 
see. Still, she hung it in her parlor for every visitor to laugh at. 
It was a fine caricature, and one of the most amusing things she 
could place on exhibition. Perhaps, if a first-class artist had painted 
one, she would have objected to it, and never taken it from his studio. 

It is a common occurrence in a photograph gallery for subjects 
to inform the operator that they are sure he will not get a good pic- 
ture of them — they always look horrid in a picture — never did 
have a good one, never expect to — they have tried so often, and 
always failed — have been to nearly every gallery in the city — they 
know they are poor subjects, and if they do not succeed this time, 
they will never try again. Thus they do all in their power to dis- 
courage the operator, and remove every hope and all the ambition 
he may have of so doing. He at once concludes they are hard sub- 
jects — nervous, whimsical, vain, and self-willed. They will sit just 
as they please, have just such a view as they please — in fact, do 
anything and everything but what the operator wants them to do; 
and that they will not do. Well, after a great deal of fussing and 
disputing, a negative is taken, and they make their exit, leaving 
the excited operator to cool down, and recuperate from his nervous 
exhaustion. They return a day or two afterwards to see their 
proof. They hardly get a sight of it before they exclaim: "O! I 
do not like that; it does not look a bit like me. I know I am a dif- 
ficult subject, and hard to take, and don't want anything better 
looking than what I am; but that does not do me justice! That's 
horrid! It's the worst looking thing I ever had." 

Now, it is generally the case that operators, having a nervous 
temperament, have feelings which cause them to think and feel like 
other people. And after listening to that kind of soul-inspiring 
language, they frequently become too much inspired, lose control 
of temper, and retaliate in remarks not very complimentary to their 
subjects; and the result is, the latter go away mad at the gallery, 
the operator and themselves, wondering why they cannot get a 
picture just as good as some other person, who has been a calm, 
unassuming, yielding, graceful, do-as-you-please kind of subject, 
but no better looking. 

It is evident that those persons who pass uncomplimentary re- 
marks upon themselves do not mean what they say, but are trying 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 199 

to get the person addressed to really compliment them and flatter 
their vanity, if he has to lie to do it. A lady who had thus spoken 
to a gentleman concerning herself, received as an answer (he per- 
ceiving her object and vanity) that it would not do for him to say 
that to her. This was such a cutting rebuke to her that she left 
the room as soon as convenient, and never recognized or spoke to 
the gentleman afterwards; so, if she had really meant what she said, 
she would not have felt so sensitive and offended over it. It is 
plain, therefore, that she did just what thousands of persons of both 
sexes do every day, which is to disparage themselves in an attempt 
to compel some one else to contradict and praise them. It is cer- 
tainly a mean and awkward way of seeking compliments, for it is 
generally said or done in such a manner that, as I have just re- 
marked, one is compelled to either lie, or remain silent, or give 
offense. One of the three things is inevitable, except in some cases 
where the person can avoid the difficulty by evasion. 

One of the evils attending flattery is that it is generally the 
outgrowth of selfishness. Persons are apt to praise others about as 
much or as far as they consider it to be for their own interest to do 
so. Business persons will flatter their customers, so that they can 
sell goods and get at their pockets, and people are generally willing 
to pay well for goods, providing they are well soaped with flattery. 
Who are the most successful salesmen ? Why, those having large 
agreeableness, secretiveness and human nature. They can thus 
win the good-will of their customers, and palaver them till they 
make them believe they want an article, against their own judgment. 

Sometimes persons, through conceit or vain hope, will flatter 
themselves into a delusion concerning their talents or future wel- 
fare. 

A gentleman, in speaking of colleges, once said he would send 
his son to school, if it was for no other purpose than to take the 
conceit out of him; for, however smart he may be, he is pretty sure 
to meet some one who can excel him, at least in some branches of 
education. If, on the other hand, he is diffident, and does not 
think enough of himself, then college life and discipline will help to 
remedy this deficiency. 

Flattery is a poor thing to live upon; it never satisfies. The 
more we get, the more we want. It soon passes away; for they 
who flatter to-day, may scorn to-morrow. The man who is all 



200 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

smiles and politeness, rendering all the attention that etiquette 
calls for to the lady he escorts to an evening entertainment, may, 
after marriage, prove to be just the reverse. 

Let me remind the reader that the Bible does not flatter men, 
and God never flattered his people. There is not so much danger, 
if there is any, arising from a deficiency of praise as there is in an 
excess of it. And the writings of that wise man, Solomon, are full 
of warnings, against this evil, so common in the moral and religious 
classes of society. 

Approbativeness is one of the most influential and powerful 
organs of the brain. It manifests itself in a great variety of ways. 
Not only does the love of flattery spring from it, but it also gives 
rise to the spirit of emulation as seen in the political, business, 
social and religious contests of life. In the common and worldly 
mind it delights in physical contests for superiority, such as wrest- 
ling, walking-matches, boat-racing, horse-racing, pigeon-shooting 
and similar performances. In the intellectual and moral mind it 
soars higher, and loves to excel in the nobler and grander events of 
life, such as oratory and poetry, in the arts and sciences, in litera- 
ture and music, in business and pleasure. It produces competition 
and rivalry between individuals, cities and nations, and is really the 
backbone of enterprise and industry. It makes people like to see 
things and talk about things on a big scale; admires success, but 
cannot endure disappointment. It even thinks a thief smart if he 
steals a million, but a fool if only a small amount. I was amused to 
hear a colored student in a college in Virginia, when being ex- 
amined in a moral philosophy class, say, that he would consider a 
man a natural thief if he stole a hog, but if he were to steal a mil- 
lion dollars that would be a case of temptation. . He was partly 
right, inasmuch as a million would be a stronger inducement to 
theft than a hog, but he would be a thief all the same; the differ- 
ence being that in the lesser case he would be a petty thief, and in 
the other a wholesale thief, which is the hardest kind to convict 
and punish. 

This organ loves to see prosperity in others as well as self-ad- 
vancement; it admires the victor, but looks coldly upon the defeated 
in whatever contest or sphere of life. It makes scholars overwork 
their brain to keep up or be ahead in their classes; like a young 
lady teacher in a high school who became insane through hard 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 201 

study in order to obtain Normal School honors. Nothing stimu- 
lates and pleases this faculty so much as victory, success, popularity, 
praise, great display, bestowal of favors and power. How the 
world honors, adores and remembers great generals and heroes of 
all kinds; and how quickly they censure one who suffers defeat. 
Nor is anything so displeasing and offensive to approbativeness as 
defeat, censure and scorn; nor does anything so excite this organ 
to deeds of desperation, as censure mingled with defeat and morti- 
fication. I have no doubt that Horace Greeley and General Lee 
went to their graves earlier than they would have done, but for the 
silent and consuming grief caused through the mortification of this 
organ. Even murders or attempts at it may be traced to its mor- 
tified and enraged excitement, as when a mother tried to shoot her 
son-in-law for the murder of her daughter, evidently because he 
accused or blamed her for the flirting conduct of his wife. And 
the jury, as a consequence, would not hang him, but simply gave 
him fourteen years in the penitentiary. She appeared in the court 
room in a long crape mourning vail, and drawing a revolver, fired 
at the prisoner, but the vail caught between the hammer and the 
cartridge and prevented explosion. 

Retaliation also springs from the mortified excitement of this 
organ. A young lady, a stranger in New York City, saw an adver- 
tisement in the paper for an assistant. She called to answer it. 
when the man or brute attempted to rob her of her virtue. She 
got away from him, and set her feminine ingenuity to work to pun- 
ish him for his insult upon her honor and virtue. She made a lash 
in which she inserted a number of pins, then bought some red pep- 
per, and going to his place of business, sent word up to his office 
that a lady desired to see him at the door. He walked down stairs 
to the sidewalk, when, after saying a few words to him, she threw 
a handful of red pepper into his eyes and then commenced to lash 
and cut him about the face and head terribly. But there is no end 
to the numerous instances and ways in which this spirit of retalia- 
tion is shown; sometimes with a show of justice, and very often en- 
tirely uncalled for and unjustifiable. Perhaps the most aggravating 
form in which this unchristian spirit is manifested is in social and 
business life. If one man does not do what another thinks he ought 
to, he makes up his mind to get even in some way by retaliation. 
In social life one person tries to pay back a slight or neglect of 



202 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

some acquaintance to show preference, give favors or bestow praise, 
by cutting the acquaintance, playing a mean trick or humiliating 
the offender. I remember a girl whose friendship suddenly turned 
to impudence and sarcasm, because I did not compliment her by 
examining her head at a parlor entertainment, and she is but a 
sample of several such cases, including both sexes. A young, 
cheeky daughter of a hotel-keeper in Iowa, was anxious to be 
present in the parlor while I made some examinations. I politely 
informed her that the examinations were private. Taking the 
exclusion as an offense, she did all in her power to annoy me and my 
subjects. If I had been very anxious to have her present at all ex- 
aminations she would most likely have pleaded other engagements 
or want of time; but because she was not wanted and made to feel so, 
she w r as determined to retaliate by annoyance, in a style girls and 
women have a faculty for .doing, without being boisterous or very 
rude. These sort of polite annoyances and social retaliations (if I 
may call them by that name) for slight and unintentional offenses, 
are enough to provoke a saint, especially when practiced by a woman 
toward a man; because he feels he cannot, with gentlemanly pro- 
priety, resent them. That is about the meanest kind of meanness, 
where a woman takes advantage, retaliates or does something just 
because she is a woman, and her victim a man, and therefore unable, 
through a sense of gallantry and manliness, to defend or protect 
himself. 

A woman is the strangest mixture of opposites and inconsisten- 
cies in all God's creation. Of all terrestrial beings she is the sweet- 
est and meanest; the loveliest and the vainest; the most angelic 
and satanic. She can rise to the most exalted heights of piety, 
devotion, love and purity, or sink to the lowest depths of degra- 
dation and wickedness. She can be as modest and innocent as a 
lamb, and as artful and insinuating as the devil himself. She can 
make her life and character as beautiful and fragrant as a rose, or as 
poisonous and offensive as the poppy or deadly nightshade. It is 
under the influence of this organ of approbativeness that we see the 
weakest and most objectionable points in her character, because then 
she is under the rule of a selfish sentiment; the strongest faculty in 
her soul except love. But when she is controlled by love and the 
moral faculties, she is an earthly angel, and no brighter blessing illu- 
mines the pathway of man. The reason I am so severe, as some will 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 203 

undoubtedly think, on female character, is because I want to see love- 
ly woman more perfect; and one reason why I am so anxious about 
their perfection is because men can never be any better or greater 
morally and intellectually than what their mothers make them. 
Mothers influence the characters of their children more than fathers. 
When woman rises the whole race will rise, but if she sinks the race 
will sink with her. 

Vanity and show-off feeling is another phase of the organ of 
approbativeness improperly educated. It is found in both sexes, 
but is more peculiarly characteristic of females. We see it best 
illustrated in the male character on such occasions as military 
parades. The army probably furnishes the best illustrations of 
masculine vanity anywhere to be found; especially with the officers. 
It was stated in the public press concerning the late Prince Imperial 
of France, that at a ball given by the Duchess of Westminster, in 
1876, he offered to jump over a balcony to the illuminated lawn be- 
low (a distance of twenty feet), if his partner would bet him a shil- 
ling that he would not. She wisely refused. No young man save 
one whose brain was fairly intoxicated with vanity, would think of 
making such a proposition or exhibition of himself. And I am in- 
clined to think that the same spirit of vain ambition was the cause 
of his losing his life among the Zulus in Africa. Who can prove 
that Gen. Custer, a brave general who was massacred with his men 
by the Indians, did not also lose his life by an over-zealous, vain 
ambition ? Even the great Napoleon came to an inglorious end, 
and the whole French nation to grief and humiliation in their late 
war with Germany, through this monster passion. In the latter 
case, however, there was a mixture of conceit with their vain ideas. 

Sometimes medical professors, touched with this vain feeling, 
resort to vivisection as a means of exciting or gratifying the curi- 
osity of their students by showing thern what they can do in sur- 
gery; thus causing the poor animals to be tortured and slaughtered 
without mercy. If some of the vain, conceited doctors would only 
carve up one another to amuse their students, instead of the poor, 
dumb, defenseless animals, the rest of the world would be much 
better off. 

This spirit of vanity in woman runs through every grade and 
condition in life, from the cradle to the grave. It permeates their 
every thought and act. It speaks in their voice, their looks, their 



204 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

gestures, their conduct. You may as well expect an old toper to 
pass a saloon without stepping in to take a drink, as for a woman 
to pass a mirror without stopping to look at herself to see if her 
frizzes are all right, her hat just so, and her dress hanging grace- 
fully. For, after all, she cares more about her toilet than her face, 
unless it be to see that the powder is not rubbed off — if she hap- 
pens to be one of the daubing kind. Anything to attract attention 
seems to be the secret motive of some of the fair sex. And it is 
really amusing to watch their little manoeuvres. A young lady 
who was going off for a short trip with her intended, was anxious 
that everybody sitting on the veranda should know it, and take 
some notice of her departure; so she got her friend to run out to 
the gate, about thirty yards from the house, to stop the omnibus, 
while she took her time to get ready, then slowly walked through 
the yard, putting on her gloves, keeping the 'bus and its occupants 
awaiting her pleasure. Of course, she found it necessary to wait 
till the 'bus was there before she could get her things on ! A 
woman invariably keeps somebody waiting while she is fussing to 
get ready and attract a little attention. If she is sitting down in 
a car, or in some public place, she must fuss with her gloves, pull 
them off and on, or else with her ear rings or bracelets — anything 
to attract the eyes of others. 

This same vanity or show-off feeling, is manifested by nations, 
corporations, managing boards and all kinds of associations and 
societies as well as by individuals. Kings, queens, and aristocratic 
forms of government are the outgrowth of approbativeness. The 
old Israelites were not contented with a mere leader, they wanted 
a king, and so Saul was given unto them; and thus began the 
kingdom form of government with all its pomp, pride and vanity. 
Railroad, insurance, bank arid other corporations pay immense 
salaries to their presidents for the name and show of the thing, but 
give comparatively small wages to their section hands, night watch- 
men and others having weary, tiresome and responsible positions 
to fill. The men on railroads upon whom the lives of travelers are 
dependent, such as switchmen, engineers, brakemen, etc., are often 
overworked until they become sleepy and careless, risking their 
own lives as well as those of the passengers. Men who risk their 
lives on locomotives and trains every hour, yea, and almost every 
minute of the day and night, for the benefit of the public and the 





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FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 205 

corporations they serve, ought to be well paid and enough men em- 
ployed to give each other sufficient rest and time to recuperate the 
terrible strain upon their nervous system which constant watching 
for danger necessarily engenders. This show-off feeling is not con- 
fined to the upper class, however; it visits the poor in' their humble 
dwellings as well. Like a poor family I heard of in New York City, 
who, on a New Year's day, set a splendid table and on it a cake which 
cost seven dollars, and the very next day went to their baker to 
get a loaf of bread on trust. It is astonishing how poor people will 
often deprive themselves of the necessaries of life in order to make 
a display on extra occasions, or to keep up personal appearances. 
Many a person whom you see dressed well on the streets with 
feathers in their hats, if you could but look into their homes and 
sit down and take a meal at their tables, you would be surprised at 
the contrast, and at once remember the old proverb, "All that 
glitters is not gold." I never could see the sense of people starving 
their own bodies and souls to feed the eyes of others. 

Pride is seen in parents who dress their children and grown 
daughters in a more lavish style than their pockets will often per- 
mit, for school examinations and commencement exercises. I pre- 
sume they regard graduation-day as the most important event in a 
girl's life next to getting married; and so, frequently go beyond 
their means to array them in white silk or satin, kid gloves, and 
other toilet accessories, such as jewelry, etc., in order to make a 
grand show of them; when, perhaps, their teachers have had the 
hardest work imaginable to enable them to pass examination with 
average credit. Even after the affair is over, and in after years, 
there is more talk about, and allusion to a young lady's toilet, and 
how she looked and acted on commencement-day, than there is 
about her examination or what she learned, unless she has been an 
exceptionally bright student and her parents can brag about her 
smartness. It ill becomes any college, seminary or public school 
to tolerate this nonsense, and thereby foster the spirit of pride and 
vanity in young people as well as in old. Schools are supposed to 
educate young people to be good and sensible, and not vain and 
useless; and if the parents have not any common sense in such 
matters, teachers should take steps to remedy the evil. Let them 
remember the words of the Apostle Paul: " Let not him who putteth 
on his armor boast as him that taketh it off." Pride enters largely 



206 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

into Sabbath-school concerts and church decorations. The children 
appear upon the platform to recite, even of a Sabbath evening, with 
their hair and dresses decked with flowers, which, in addition to 
the decorations of the pulpit and other surroundings, present a sort 
of fairy scene. It is beautiful and pleasing to the senses, I admit, 
and generally accomplishes the purpose such performances are par- 
ticularly gotten up for, namely: to draw a crowd, get a good col- 
lection and satisfy the pride of those who get it up and participate 
in the exercises. But after all such things create vanity and ad- 
miration for the creature, instead of reverence for God. The thought- 
less multitudes go there to see the show and be entertained, not to 
hear the gospel; and if they did there would be very little gospel 
to hear. Church fairs are gotten up for a similar purpose; to raise 
money and give the young people as well as some of the old ones, a 
chance to fix themselves up like actresses and look ridiculous; also 
to do a little courting and perhaps pious flirting. Some churches 
have been known to spend more money for floral decorations on sin- 
gle occasions, like Easter, than they have contributed during the 
whole year for missionary purposes. O, how pride and vanity knocks 
and locks religion out of a church and the hearts of the people! 
Just as in the case of a lady I once met whose mind was poisoned 
against religion and had been from her youthful days, because her 
mother, who was a pious woman, would not let her wear flowers in 
her hat. She cried more over that, than anything in her whole life. 
Her mother was most likely a little too plain and rigid in her taste 
and ideas about such things, but it shows the power of pride in the 
human soul. 

Sometimes pride is mingled with haughtiness and manifests 
itself in an offensive way, like a round-faced young woman, well- 
dressed, who was sitting in a street car opposite me one evening, 
when a poorly-dressed man entered the car and sat down beside her. 
She pulled her cloak up and threw it across her lap, then turning 
her head around gave him a contemptuous look and got up, com- 
pelling her escort to change places with her as though she was even 
superior to him and much nicer. As she performed this disgrace- 
ful act she fairly blushed with pride, though she ought to have 
blushed with shame, and I am not sure but there was a little of that 
feeling mixed with her pride. If the man had been in any way 
offensive I should not have blamed her so much (though under all 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 20y 

occasions it is well to be lady-like), but he was not. He was not 
drunk, nor even chewing tobacco, nor in any way offensive to any- 
one, save he was a poor and commonly-dressed man. If such 
proud, vanity-stricken young women, whose brains are in the wrong 
part of their heads, would only turn up their celestial noses and put 
on a few righteous airs with the young fops of the city, or any class 
of men, young or old, rich or poor, who are given to bad and dis- 
gusting habits, they would do a good deal of good. But they gen- 
erally shoot off their pride bullets where they only do harm instead 
of good, just as assassins shoot smart men but never hurt the less 
important ones. If a young man can sport a nobby suit of clothes, 
play the agreeable, and carry a cane under his arm for people to 
run their eyes and faces against, why, he may smoke, drink, chew 
and hold high carnival in general, and still not be objectionable, but 
rather adored, by the proud, outside-show class of young women. 
What a striking contrast to the young woman I have described, 
was the honest old lady I saw (both of them in New York), partic- 
ular to a cent in paying her debts, and though well-off was dressed 
like a beggar. She never knew what it was to want for a dollar, 
and though shabby in appearance, she lived comfortably and in a 
well-furnished home. She did not think enough about dress or 
have sufficient pride about her personal appearance, while the other 
had too much. 

Pride is a remarkably selfish feeling, just as a dog adheres to his 
master whether he be a good man or a bad man, and defends him 
when assaulted whether he is in the right or wrong; so pride clings 
to self with all the tenacity of the soul. It loves self and glories in 
self, and never sees- its own imperfections. Stanley, who went in 
search of Livingstone, the African explorer, says the native Africans 
appear to be as proud of their black skin as the Europeans of their 
pale color. Pride makes no discrimination between race, nations 
or color; it always thinks itself and its own class perfect. It only 
discriminates in its own favor, when brought in contrast with an- 
other person, class or nation. Pride is self-destructive; it works its 
own ruin because it is too selfish to exist; hence the adage, " pride 
goeth before a fall." 

There are many shades of pride, if I may so express it. Pride 
of one's ancestry, pride of country, pride of knowledge, pride of 
wealth, pride of dress, and pride of looks. People are very sensi- 



208 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

tive over the two latter, hence the amount of time and money spent 
to present a good appearance. Wealth or beauty is the great boon 
the fair sex covet, and the lady who has a pretty face is generally 
proud. Beauty and pride occupy about the same relation to each 
other that wealth and fashion do. Not that beauty engenders pride, 
but because it attracts so much attention and receives so much 
praise, the spirit of pride and vanity is soon developed in its pos- 
sessor, and if any man wants to see a beauty under a cloud or a sud- 
den change in facial expression from sweetness to anger and scorn, 
let him but intimate to a belle, or any lady who thinks herself 
pretty, that she is not, and he will get a look from that beauty cold 
enough to freeze him. I tried it once, and once only. It was sev- 
eral years ago, and we were going to a picnic. The young lady was 
quite good-looking, but not a belle, although evidently very proud 
of her beauty. We were talking by the way, when I thoughtlessly 
remarked and without really meaning what I said, that I guessed 
we were both behind the door when beauty was shared. It was 
seven years after that before she spoke to me again. 

Conceit arises from the organ of approbativeness also, and not 
as is generally supposed from self-esteem. The majority of people 
of both sexes are conceited, but very few have large self-esteem. 
Conceit, like pride and vanity, is a perverted condition of this organ 
(approbativeness), and it is the cause of very much unpleasantness 
in the human family. It would take a good-sized volume to describe 
the numerous mistakes and accidents that are caused through its 
action and influence upon men's characters and judgment. The 
pernicious and dishonest habit of betting arises from conceit. Two 
men get up a controversy about something and each thinks he is 
right and the other wrong, because he esteems his own judgment 
better than his neighbor's, and as a sort of display puts up money 
and risks it to back his opinion. Conceit makes a man think him- 
self smarter than he really is; makes him think he knows more 
than he does; and makes him think he understands what another 
person wants him to do, or what he means by a statement, when he 
does not half comprehend the meaning intended. Many public 
speakers are misunderstood in this way, and many an author suffers 
by having some phrase or sentence in his book misinterpreted, just 
because some conceited person jumps at a conclusion in harmony 
with his own mind or way of thinking, without properly examining 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 20g 

a statement and studying the meaning of the author or his motive 
for making it, or trying to catch the spirit in which it was spoken 
or written. Others will pick up a book and critically read one 
chapter, or a few pages here and there, and then conceitedly con- 
clude they know all about the book. No greater injustice can be 
done to an author, because from such a cursory reading the reader, 
no matter how smart he is, can only gather a few disconnected ideas, 
and therefore cannot possibly form a correct estimate of the work as 
a whole. An employer tells a conceited assistant he ivants a certain 
thing done so and so; he has hardly commenced to explain to him 
how it is to be done, before he concludes he understands just what 
he wants and instead of listening attentively and studying to com- 
prehend what his employer really wants, he simply says, "Yes, sir, 
yes, sir," and goes off and does almost the opposite of his orders. 
A conceited young man goes to college and after he has been there 
a year, more or less, he begins to think he knows more than his 
professors. And when he has been through the text-books of the 
school and graduates, he feels as big and vain as a peacock. He 
thinks himself a highly-educated man, and walking dictionary, 
when he has only learned how to think, how to gather knowledge, 
and how to make use of it, as far as practical life is concerned. 
Conceited young women frequently prejudge a man's motives, by 
thinking he wants their company, or certain favors or privileges, or 
that he is in love with them and wants to marry, if he should chance 
to call or take them out two or three times; and conceited men are 
just as bad in reference to ladies. 

Conceit is the cause of some ladies seeking or rather thrusting 
their presence and claim for attention upon a person when he is en- 
gaged in conversation with another person. It is a common occur- 
rence and what I consider a bold breach of etiquette. A modest, 
well-educated lady will not do it, but a conceited, proud, selfish 
woman will invariably interrupt the conversation of two persons 
whenever she wishes to speak to one of the parties. It is the same 
class of women who expect to be waited upon immediately when 
they enter a place of business, no matter who is before them, and 
take offense if they are not. I remember a photographer showing 
me a picture of just such a character. She went to his studio to 
have a negative taken, and acted unreasonable and made quite a 
fuss because she could not be waited upon before the other custo- 



210 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

mers who were ahead of her. Such women will leave a parlor or 
company in a very short time, if conversation is not directed to 
them, or some kind of attention shown. They must be taken notice 
of in some way, or they feel slighted and take offense. You may 
show all the favors and acts of kindness and friendship you please 
to such a woman, but the moment you correct, censure or scold her 
for anything, she will reverse her feelings towards you and substi- 
tute enmity for friendship. Women are not willing to be corrected 
or even instructed by their gentlemen escorts. Information how- 
ever necessary and valuable for them to know, when given in that 
way, is pretty sure to be taken by ladies as a polite insult. A gen- 
tleman was playing in a four-handed game of croquet one day with 
a conceited young lady as his partner. He saw she did not thor- 
oughly understand the game, and was not playing right, so he 
ventured to correct her and explain how. She took offense, got 
angry, threw down her mallet and walked off. You may treat her 
to candy and bouquets, and take her out riding and to places of 
entertainment and she will smile her sweetest smile as only a lady 
can, but attempt to point out her faults or instruct her as to how 
she should act, and you incur her displeasure at once. She can 
stand all the praise, admiration, favors and presents you choose to 
shower upon her, but criticism and correction makes her wilt or 
socially freeze up. 

Conceit makes people talk about their relatives and acquaint- 
ances, like a young lady I had in my employ once. I could seldom 
allude to any person but what she had some relative just like them, 
and she could hardly ever talk on any subject herself without bring- 
ing in her uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sisters, grandparents or 
some other blood relation; in fact, that is the most some young 
ladies can find to talk about, what their mammas and papas say 
and do. And there are plenty of other ladies just like her, whose 
conversation always turns upon family affairs or family connections, 
and the common events of home and every-day life. Bad educa- 
tion and novel-reading is another cause of commonplace and 
trashy talk among young ladies. 

Conceit makes people talk big about what they have got or are 
going to do, or want done. It is the braggadocio feeling, and 
whenever I hear a person talk that way I subtract about one-half 
from their statements in order to get at the truth. Some people 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 211 

when they call on me to have an examination of their heads, begin 
to tell me in a very emphatic manner that they particularly want 
to know all the bad qualities about them, they are very anxious to 
know the whole truth. And then when they get the truth, it does 
not always go down pleasantly, and they are the very kind to take 
offense. About two or three times in the run of a year I meet with 
these conceited and unreasonable subjects. They pretend they 
want to know their faults, but secretly expect to be highly compli- 
mented. Hence, when a person comes to me with such an imper- 
ative request to know all, I generally make up my mind I have got 
a hard subject to please, because if I fail to point out some weak or 
bad points he thinks I am a humbug and have not told him all, but 
have flattered him to get his money; and if I do make him out to 
be bad or of poor intelligence, then he is offended, if not angry, and 
begins to make all sorts of objections. But as I have already inti- 
mated, these unreasonable persons are exceptional, and rare cases 
in my professional experience. Conceited persons frequently walk 
up to me in a public hall, or on the street, and say, "Professor, 
what do you think of my face ? What kind of a head, or nose, or 
mouth, or eye, have I got ? Look me in the face now, and tell me 
if you think I would do, or not do, so-and-so." If I were to answer 
their questions and not compliment them or flatter their vanity, 
they would be offended, and if I refuse to answer them (for such 
persons never expect to pay for such information), then they are 
offended. 

Sometimes conceit will cost a man his life. Like a conceited 
doctor who thought he knew all about elephants, and insisted, 
though warned of the danger, on going into the barn where one 
was, and had his conceited head torn from his body. And a con- 
ceited young man whose Newfoundland dog had killed a bear, 
thought he could tackle an elephant also, which was standing in 
the water with his keeper. The dog had more sense and less con- 
ceit than his master, and did not wish to make the attempt until 
urged on by his owner, and then, with dog-like faithfulness, he 
obeyed orders. The elephant caught him, ducked him, threw him 
up in the air about thirty feet, caught him on his tusks and threw 
him out on the ground a dead dog. 

When a fashionable woman goes to a dry goods store and buys 
a small parcel of goods, she wants it sent home; but when she 



212 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

parades the streets she can carry a whole arm-full of dress goods 
in the shape of a long trail, without a murmur. If any lady readers 
of this chapter should deem me rather severe in my criticisms 
concerning their ways and habits, let me remind them that their 
greatest, most searching and uncharitable critics, come from their 
own sex. I remember a lady who was standing with a number of 
others on a piazza, one summer afternoon, in Saratoga, who re- 
marked, as another lady passed along the sidewalk with a long trail, 
"Dear me, I wonder how much she is paid by the city authorities 
for sweeping the streets." But the next time she went out walking 
herself, I noticed she had a trail on her own dress, only not quite as 
long. This long-trail fashion on a public street in the summer is a 
public nuisance, anyhow, for the dust they raise for other people to 
swallow who have to walk behind them, or even pass them, is any- 
thing but pleasant or healthy. 

Pride so permeates the human soul that it is difficult to tell 
where it begins or where it ends, for even the Quakers who discoun- 
tenance anything that looks like pride or vanity, are about as proud 
of their simplicity in dress and manner as the fashionable women 
are of their toilets and latest styles. The Quaker ladies are very 
particular to have their comforters just so, and their bonnet-strings 
tied exactly to suit the taste; all of which is proper to a certain 
extent. Every man and woman should use taste and order in the 
arrangement of their garments, and in all the affairs of life. But 
the pride of the Quakers in their systematic neatness is something 
like that of a good, modest and talented old man, whom everybody 
supposed was entirely free from pride, until some one who was skep- 
tical on that point made up his mind to thoroughly test him; and, 
after trying unsuccessfully in every conceivable way to excite a 

vein of vanity, he at last said to him: "Mr. , you are the most 

modest, humble and unassuming. man I ever met." That brought 
the blush of pride to his face; he was proud of his meekness; or, to 
express it in other words, he was proud to think he was not proud. 

Exaggeration has its origin in approbativeness, also, and is one 
of the most prevalent and annoying traits in human character. 
The disposition to magnify a thing and make a mountain out of a 
mole-hill, is the cause of many false reports and slanderous lies and 
misstatements so often put into circulation, either by gossip or 
through the medium of the press. A large percentage of the ordi- 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 213 

nary lying that takes place in the common affairs of life, is done 
through the influence or desire of this feeling to make a thing 
appear big, and excite wonder and surprise in the minds of others. 
Not that people mean to deliberately lie, but that in their desire to 
say something to attract attention, they over-state a thing. It also 
causes people to use words extravagantly; to be superfluous in 
speaking or writing; and even use words that convey a different 
meaning. One-half of the lies in history which have come down 
to us, are the result of exaggeration caused by a desire on the part 
of the author to be brilliant; to surprise and charm his readers 
rather than to make exact statements. A great deal of trouble is 
caused and hard feeling engendered between parties through people 
magnifying things and making careless or erroneous statements. 
A great many business men always make exaggerated statements 
in reference to the amount of business they are doing; praise up 
their goods as being far superior to what they really are; put the 
best side to view and cover up any defects. Some of them fill 
baskets with peaches, putting a few good ones on the top, and the 
rest filled with green or rotten fruit of different kinds. Anything 
or anyway to make an article look inviting, tempting or better than 
it really is. This spirit of exaggeration pervades the press to a 
great extent, hence the uncertainty as to the truthfulness of reports 
or statements. I have noticed this many times, and particularly in 
their descriptions of summer resorts in the early part of the season. 
To read one of the daily papers one would suppose the hotels were 
about full, and everything in full blast; but go there and you find 
them about half full, or hardly that. 

In society gossip, however, and in ordinary conversation is where 
this spirit of exaggeration runs high. A woman, for instance, has 
heard something which she is aching to repeat, and the first friend 
or neighbor she meets, she lets her tongue go lively, and piles on 
the adjectives and exclamations heavy, until she makes her neighbor 
imagine she sees stars where there are none. Or, perchance, she 
has been visiting some city or place where there was lots to see; 
like a woman in Michigan who went to the Chicago Exposition, and 
saw a new kind of stove with some glass in the upper part, so that 
the baking process could be watched. When she returned to her 
home, she told a wonderful story about a glass stove that she had 
seen, where you could see the fire burning, the pies baking, and 



214 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

everything about it in full view. After a few days had passed, one 
of the neighbors who had heard her story and had her curiosity 
excited, went to the Exposition, also, and walked up and down the 
aisle past the same stove several times and looking for it, and finally 
enquired of the exhibitor where the " glass stove" was to be seen. 
He told her he guessed his stove was the one she was looking for, 
as they had not quite got to making stoves out of glass yet. After 
relating the above incident to me he said, that if a story got to be 
of that size in Michigan, he did not know what proportions it would 
assume by the time it reached California. 

Conceit is what keeps millions of people out of the Kingdom of 
Heaven; they are so good in their own estimation that they think 
if they have not robbed or murdered anybody, they have a natural 
right to an inheritance with the saints; those who, through great 
self-denial and tribulation, have overcome the world, the flesh and 
the devil, and won their reward. It is this very feeling that pre- 
vents so many from believing the gospel, as well as many ether 
things that are contrary to their conceited ideas. It is repugnant 
to the feelings and mind of a self-righteous man to have to depend 
on the goodness of some other being to make up his deficiencies, 
or even for another to insinuate he is not a good man. He is just 
as sensitive about his goodness, as a belle is of her beauty. He 
thinks he is quite able to take care of himself. A conceited bather 
at Atlantic City one summer evidently thought so, and ventured 
out into the ocean beyond his depth and was rescued by the life- 
guard just in time to save his life. As I stood on the beach and 
saw him brought in upon the shoulders of his physical savior in an 
insensible condition, I thought to myself, what a powerful lesson on 
the conceit and frailty of man ! It really staggers one with be- 
wilderment and astonishment to think how desperately and blindly 
conceited people are. Why, two-thirds of the prisoners in our jails 
and penitentiaries are, in their own estimation, pretty good sort of 
people, and I have little doubt but what many of them think that 
those who put them there ought to be in their places, and scarcely 
any of them think their punishment to be just. As I passed through 
the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, N. Y., I asked a woman 
what she was there for. "O," said she, "a very simple thing. Some 
lady accused me of stealing." Then I asked a man what he was 
there for. "For nothing," he replied, "I was just walking along 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 2 r 5 

the street and a policeman took hold of me and arrested me, and I 
was sent here." And I expect if it were possible for somebody to 
pass through hell at some future time and should see Robert Inger- 
soll and ask him what he was there for, he would say, "O, nothirg; 
I simply told the people in the other world that there was no such 
place as this, and one of the Almighty's angels grabbed me and cast 
me in here." When I look over the world and see the awful amount 
of wickedness, suffering and misery that exist, and then remember 
how good people are, in their own estimation, I come to the con- 
clusion that a good many are fooling themselves rather badly. 
There is hardly a house or family nowadays but what has hanging 
on its parlor walls some of those fancy scripture mottoes, and that 
is about all the religion a good many people have. It suits their 
conceited natures much better to hang up religion outside of them, 
where they can look at it, than it does to carry it in their hearts. 
People who are living a life of sin, and are the very servants of the 
devil, will hang this familiar motto over their parlor door, "God 
bless our home;" and if you were to talk to them about their future 
state and prospects they would tell you at once they expect to go 
right straight to heaven when they die, and demand to know why 
they should not when they never hurt anybody, nor cheated any 
person. Conceit so blinds the spiritual or moral sense of sight, 
that people's ideas of sin are very weak and crude, and all they can 
seem to look upon as sin are such actions as get them into jail; such 
sins as find their way into the criminal columns of our newspapers. 
Sins against humanity they can see, but not sins against Divinity; 
big sins, but not little ones. They are something like the girl who 
on being asked how she could confess all her sins to the priest, 
when she could not possibly remember the half of them, replied, 
that she could remember all the big ones anyway. 

As I have intimated, it is this disposition to exaggerate that ad- 
dicts people to a certain kind of lying; and it is their wounded conceit 
that makes them so intensely indignant when charged with lying. 
Hence the same organ that gives the lie resents the charge and re- 
taliates on the accuser, or stirs up other organs and propensities to 
do it, such as combativeness and destructiveness. A boasting, exag- 
gerating, conceited man naturally thinks his own statements must be 
correct, and it mortifies his pride to have a person even doubt it, much 
more to call it a deliberate lie; and even when he knows he is telling 



2l6 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

a lie he does not regard it with half the disgust that he would if some 
other man had told it. He looks upon it in his own case as a sort 
of pardonable necessity to carry his point or accomplish his object. 
The sins that such a man or woman commit are never so hideous 
in their own estimation as the same sins committed by some other 
person; and that is one reason why so many sin with impunity. 
It is this same feeling, combined with parental love, that causes 
parents to see the faults of other people's children but not those of 
their own; and to magnify the virtues and talents of their own 
children as compared with those of other people. This is why so 
many inconsiderate parents will allow their children to have any- 
thing they want to play with, soil and tear books, albums and other 
things lying on the parlor tables; and even to take offense if visitors 
and strangers, or persons they may be living with, will not allow 
them to destroy their things also. It does seem as if some parents 
were almost destitute of common sense, so enormous and bordering 
on insanity is their conceit, pride and vanity over their idolized 
children, whom they worship and serve more than the God who 
gave them. They will crowd their children upon the attention of 
visitors and even strangers to have special notice taken of them, or 
some complimentary remark made about their looks or smartness; 
then, if the visitor or stranger does not take as much notice of them 
as they think he ought to, they consider it a slight and are offended. 
But it is really the imaginary offense to their own vanity they feel 
grieved about, more than for the feelings of their own children. It 
is their selfishness that stirs up their displeasure. Ambition in 
children to show their smartness and see how much they can do, 
not only intellectually but in some physical performance, often 
terminates in trouble and even death. Like a little girl in Con- 
necticut, who was fond of skipping, and, child-like, wanted to see 
how many times she could jump the rope without stopping. She 
did it two hundred and fifty times, and was seized with fits imme- 
diately afterwards. I do not know whether she died or not, but 
many a person's life has been lost by attempting to do some such 
foolish thing; trying to do what God never intended them to do, 
and what his natural laws never fitted them to do. No organ in the 
brain, no faculty of the soul, needs educating more than does the 
organ of approbativeness; and the worst feature about the matter 
is, not a school, college or pulpit in the civilized world attempts to 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 217 

educate it. They all humor it and pervert it just as parents pet, 
humor and spoil their children. 

The desire to talk and whisper in public audiences when order 
and quietness should prevail, is another peculiarity of the perverted 
use of the organ of approbativeness. To laugh and whisper as 
many women do at public lectures and church services, is not only 
very annoying to the speaker and others sitting near them, but im- 
modest and unwomanly. There may be occasions when such a 
thing is necessary and excusable, but the whispering, smiling, 
laughing business is so common nowadays, that it seems impossible 
for two women, especially young ladies, to sit beside each other or 
in company with a gentleman even in a church, without whispering 
and laughing whenever they see or hear anything that suits their 
fancy, excites their curiosity or provokes their mirth. Men do this, 
too, but it is more prevalent with ladies. A similar manifestation 
of the same feeling is seen when two persons, particularly young 
women, are visiting an exhibition or going through a large store 
where there are a variety of things interesting to be seen. 
The moment one sees an article she thinks is specially worthy of 
notice, or has some quality peculiar or funny about it, she begins to 
call or pull the other one to come and look at it, no matter how 
earnestly she may be engaged looking at something that interests 
her equally as much. It is precisely the same feeling that is man- 
ifested by children in showing everything they have in the shape 
of toys, pictures, books, etc., to visitors as well as to their parents. 
A kindred feeling makes people anxious to circulate news, to be the 
first to tell something strange and wonderful, especially if it is a 
scandal or anything bad about their neighbors. It is the cause of 
women and girls telling what another says or does to them, es- 
pecially what a gentleman does or says, and frequently making 
considerable fuss about a small thing. Like a cook in New Jersey, 
who told her mother the minister she was working for often kissed 
her (she must have enjoyed it or she would not have submitted so 
often). Her mother told her to tell his wife if he did it again; she 
did, the wife flew into a rage and raised a matrimonial storm, and 
then the church committee asked him to resign. Thus the happi- 
ness of a family was broken up and a minister's usefulness termi- 
nated in that place, at any rate, all because that servant had cooked 
every thing but her own tongue. I am not advocating that minis- 



2l8 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

ters should kiss their cooks, but it seems reasonable to suppose that 
if she had really objected to being kissed, she would have enforced 
that objection on the first attempt, and not after it had been done 
several times. The fact, I should judge, was that she felt compli- 
mented and just ached to tell somebody that she had been kissed 
by a minister; and that, in connection with a feeling that his mar- 
riage made the act improper, urged her to tell her mother. And 
the whole three of these women, cook, mother and wife, if the story 
as reported in the papers was true, acted rashly and unwisely. 
When a woman objects to being kissed, or any man is imprudent 
enough to attempt improprieties, there is a way to check such ad- 
vances without telling and exciting the whole community and rais- 
ing a huge scandal; it only makes a mountain out of a mole-hill and 
does the community and country ten times more harm than good. 
All these manifestations of the same faculty spring from a conceit- 
ed, show-off, selfish kind of feeling, to call the attention of others to 
what they see, think or feel, or what has been done to them. Hence 
the pleasure people with large approbativeness take in whispering 
and directing the attention of their companions to whatsoever is 
attractive or impressive to them, is really a vain and selfish pleas- 
ure generally gratified at the expense and annoyance of others. 
Women do not get angry at being kissed unless done by a man 
they dislike, or at a time or on an occasion they deem inopportune, 
and the same faculty or feeling that would cause them to take of- 
fense at being kissed, would also be wounded if they were not 
kissed when they wanted to be. Behold how great a fire a little 
matter kindleth, and the ambitious, tell-tale mongers are the ones 
who do it. 

The love of power and authority, and desire to control, govern, 
command and order others, is still another manifestation of appro- 
bativeness. It is seen to perfection in the army; hence the numer- 
ous and constant jealousies that spring up among the officers. 
Politics is another grand field for the display of this feeling. How 
men will fight and tear each other to pieces, morally and intellect- 
ually, to gain control of the government, the disbursement of offices, 
or to be the leaders of their party! Think of the schemes resorted 
to, the tricks that are played, the lies that are told at every elec- 
tion to gain votes, and through them a place of power, authority, 
and honor ! But as the newspapers are constantly full of political 



FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 2IQ 

and military struggles for superiority, and numerous works are 
devoted to that subject, it is useless for me to enlarge upon it here. 
School boards also furnish illustrations of this ruling passion, and 
some of the members will become as jealous of their little bit of 
authority as a dog is of his bone, or a cat of her morsel of meat. 
Let one member take upon himself to do a thing, or exercise a 
little more than his share of authority without consulting the rest, 
or at least a certain conceited member in it, and there will be 
almost a prize fight at the next meeting of the board. 

The sense of shame may be attributed to this organ also. 
Shame is the result of the faculty of approbativeness being alive to 
the fact that something has been done or said which brings censure 
and displeasure instead of praise and commendation, which makes 
the individual feel small, look confused or at a disadvantage. The 
sense of guilt, shame and remorse are kindred feelings, all arising 
from the interruption and wounding of this faculty. Guilt and re- 
morse, however, are caused by the quickening of the faculty of 
conscientiousness in connection with approbativeness. A large 
percentage of honesty is also due to approbativeness rather than to 
conscientiousness ; for, after all, the influencing motive with many 
people and in many instances is not so much the principle of right 
because it is right, as the feeling, " what will people say, and how 
will they treat me if I do wrong." So dreading the odium that 
wrong acts would bring upon them, they refrain from doing what 
they would otherwise do. 

Funeral vanity belongs to this family of evils also. Of all occa- 
sions and places where vanity ought to hide its worthless head, it 
is surely at the grave. But fashion says : No, I will honor the 
carcass more than the living body. When living he is criticised 
and censured without mercy; but when dead, pride and vanity 
strew his path with flowers and enroll him among the saints of 
heaven. So heavy has this show-off spirit made funeral expenses, 
that it costs more to die than to get married. Poor people and 
those in middle life are often taxed to their utmost to know how 
to give their relatives a decent burial, according to the customs of 
society, and defray the useless expenses attached thereto. When 
a man is going to be married he can take time to prepare for it, as 
he can postpone it ; but men cannot postpone dying or the 
expenses of a funeral. These come generally without warning, and 



220 FLATTERY, CONCEIT AND VANITY. 

all the pomp that the wealthy may lavish upon their deceased 
friends is so short-lived that it is scarcely worth while to bestow 
it, especially as the dead cannot appreciate. A great many of 
these costly expressions of sympathy and mourning- at funerals are 
done for show, and very often there is little real heart-grief about 
the whole affair. In the case of the death of a king, queen, or 
president, a good deal of the public sympathy, as expressed, or 
supposed to be, in the draping of stores, is all show, and done as 
much for advertising as for mourning ; hence great pains is taken 
to trim the place so as to attract attention. As to whether mourn- 
ing decorations, used as a means of advertising, are right or wrong, 
I am not discussing here ; but am simply calling attention to the 
fact that business and sympathy are pretty well mixed up in public 
calamities and manifestations of sorrow. So that even in funerals, 
where the tenderest feelings of the soul are supposed to be awak- 
ened, vanity and selfishness go hand in hand and rise to public 
gaze. 

My object in this chapter has been to call the attention of people 
to the various forms of this besetting sin, that they who will may 
at least modify, if not exterminate, the evil. 




CHARLES F. GUNTHER, Confectioner. 

CHICAGO. 



He is a self-made man, and a fair illustration of an evenly balanced head and tem- 
peraments; he has good business capacity, is active and energetic. He has considerable 
self-control and the ability to control others; his eyebrows indicate his determination to 
overcome obstacles. Economy and the disposition to make money by being careful and 
saving, as well as in general business trading, is strongly expressed in his countenance. 
Men of wealth are always noted for their economy. It is not what men make so much as 
what they save that makes them rich. Spendthrifts never get wealthy! There is danger, 
however, in being too economical, as it leads to stinginess and dries up the liberality of 
the soul. 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 



The Important question — Money what all Men labor for— The Selfishness of Men— The 
Secret of Success — The difference in Talent between Doing Business and Managing 
it — Bad Beginning versus Ending — Getting into the Wrong Occupation, and its 
Results — In a hurry to get Rich — Time wasted trying to find out what one is fit 
for — Health, and its relation to Business — Self-Knowledge — Danger of Speculation 
— A General Knowledge of Mankind — A Business Man's Experience — Value of In- 
telligent Female Help — Qualities of a good Salesman— How they Sell Goods — Why 
those who Buy Goods should understand Human Nature — How to hire Help — How 
to study Human Nature — The School Superintendent who was taken in by a Con- 
fidence Man — Understanding one's Business — Mistakes of some Beginners in Busi- 
ness—Where to do Business, and why some Business Enterprises and Institutions 
Fail — Outside Appearances have a good deal to do with Success — So has the Study 
of Local Geography — The amount of Capital necessary — The Executive Power in 
Business — Value of Perseverance and Push — Tricks of Advertising — The Ability to 
carry out Plans — Concentration of Effort — Sticking to one thing — Square-dealing 
or Integrity in business — Punctuality in meeting Engagements and in paying Bills — 
The Business Value of Time — The Lawyer and School Teacher — Economy in Busi- 
ness — Foresight and Calculation — Counting the Cost— Intuition, or First Impres- 
sions — Good and Regular Habits — Quickness of Apprehension and Decision. 



THERE is probably no question that concerns the masses more 
than how to succeed in life, and none concerning which there is 
less definite knowledge. Not only each individual, but all classes 
of people and all nations are battling with the difficulties of life, and 
taxing their brains to solve that most perplexing problem — financial 
success. For I care not in what avocation a man may be engaged, 
money is the object desired. The laborer, the merchant, the me- 
chanic, the artist, the scholar, and even the minister are all in pur- 
suit of that commercial article with which they can purchase food 
to eat, clothes to wear, and the various luxuries of life. I do not 
say that money is the sole object of every man's life. Some make 
money their god, but others seek it simply as a necessary means of 
support, with which to satisfy the wants of the body and enable 
them to employ their talents in the pursuit and accomplishment of 
higher and nobler ends. Be that as it may, money or its equivalent 
is the one general aim of the whole race; and the struggle that is 



222 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

constantly going on in the commercial world between individuals, 
communities and nations, as to which shall receive the lion's share, 
is like the desperate contest between two or more armies in which 
some are slain, some wounded and some victorious. So in the bus- 
iness struggle for success, some rise to wealth and commercial em- 
inence, some struggle through life with many ups and downs, while 
others fail in almost everything they touch, and scarcely keep the 
wolf of hunger and want from their doors. 

I never knew or realized how selfish men are, how strong their 
passion for money and success, and how desperately they strive to 
climb over each other in business life till one morning I entered 
the stock exchange in New York. It looked as though Bedlam was 
let loose, and they were all ready to take each other by the throat, 
so intensely anxious were the bulls and bears to carry their point. 
They reminded me of a reported scene that took place at the terri- 
ble boat disaster at London, Canada, May 24th, 1881. Hundreds 
had been precipitated into the water and were climbing on top of 
one another to reach the surface and the shore, and among the 
struggling mass of beings was a small lad who, in his fall into the 
water struck on the back of a gentleman; the man feeling the weight 
on his back rather heavy, and not knowing what it was, tried violently 
to free himself; but the little fellow in desperation hung on with a 
death grip, and with the man reached the shore in safety. Thus in 
financial life, especially when disasters overtake men or a panic 
sweeps over the land, men climb over one another and hang on to 
each other with all the intensity of desperation, that they may reach 
the goal of success and avoid failure. 

There is always a good reason why one man succeeds and an- 
other fails. It is because one understands business principles and 
rules, and knows how to apply them better than another. And it 
is to some of these rules, principles and requirements, that I wish 
to call the attention of the reader. In the first place all men are 
not qualified for a business life, do not know how to carry on and 
manage a business for themselves. There are a great many who 
are better fitted to do business for others, than for themselves; that 
is, they can do the work, but are not capable of managing the finan- 
cial part. There is a vast difference between the ability to make a 
thing and the ability to draw custom, to buy, sell and dispose of 
manufactured articles. The one requires skill and tact, the other, 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 223 

judgment and push or force. Here is where a great many make a 
mistake;, they do not distinguish between talent for doing things 
and talent for managing things. Hence quite a number who fail in 
business for themselves, might be successful doing the same thing 
for others. In other words, a man might steer a ship quite well 
and safely, but were he to attempt to be a pilot, he would very 
likely run her on the rocks and to destruction. It takes a different 
kind of knowledge to pilot a vessel than what it does to steer it. 
A man may know comparatively nothing about the structure of a 
ship, or even the control of it, but if he knows all the dangerous 
places in the bay or channel, and the course to be pursued to avoid 
them, he is fit to be pilot, though other men may man the vessel, 
do the work on it, or engineer the machinery of a steamer much 
better than he could. Business tact is not mechanical skill nor in- 
tellectual ability, nor both combined. It is a peculiar and special 
talent. And the man who contemplates starting in business for 
himself had better find out before he begins whether he possesses 
that kind of business talent or not, otherwise he may lose his time 
and money, and probably the friends who helped him and then lost 
faith in him, if not money as well. I would not say by any means, 
that a failure in starting out in life always indicates poor business 
tact, any more than the battle of Bull Run indicated the power of 
the South, or the weakness and failure of the North. A bad be- 
ginning often makes a good ending; and very often the difficulties 
and failures that beset men at the start, work to their success in the 
end, providing they have enough practical talent to profit by their 
experience, and see where and how to do better in the future. 
There are a great many, however, who thoughtlessly and conceit- 
edly jump into business with false ideas, having neither pluck nor 
tact, and such will fail and fail, till eventually, like a drowning man, 
they will sink to rise no more. 

Another difficulty is, that men and women get into the wrong 
occupation, or pursuit, or profession — the one for which nature 
never intended them, and for which they have little talent. How 
then can they expect to be successful when out of place and 
trying to do what they cannot do? Think of the hundreds of 
accidents and the immense loss of life annually through men 
being in the wrong place ! Men get into positions on railroads 
and steamboats who, through carelessness or deficient talent, 



224 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

cause accidents that hurl men, women and children by hundreds 
into eternity. In such a case not only is the individual himself 
affected by his being in the wrong place, but society is frequently 
a much greater sufferer. A man's family, if he has one, suffers 
also, because he will not make as much money, as a rule, in the 
wrong calling as he would in the right; hence it is a serious 
mistake for himself, his family and society, when he gets into the 
wrong place. It is a bad thing for the nation, frequently, when men 
get into prominent positions and are not fit for them. The wrong 
man at the head of an army would be terribly disastrous to the 
whole country, and might cost it its liberty. Napoleon always 
selected his generals by their noses. He wanted no men with short, 
flat, insignificant noses for commanders and fighters, and he was 
right. So if a man wants to be a speculator or general business 
man, he must see that he has the right kind of a nose on his face 
before he begins, or somebody that has a better business nose will 
scalp him pretty badly. Many a man who goes on a board of 
trade to speculate and is not fit for it, loses his little all in a single 
deal or in a day, leaving the scene of action a wiser but sadder 
man. 

There are too many in the world who want to get rich too fast. 
They are not satisfied to make money in a safe and reasonable way. 
They must make it in a lump, and they often lose what they have 
in a lump too, because their selfish and ambitious natures overbal- 
ance their talent and judgment, when they get about half crazy 
and take great risks. Business gambling is just as risky and dan- 
gerous as any other kind of gambling. A good many people spend 
half, two-thirds, and sometimes the whole of their life trying to 
find out what they are fit for, and thus they go on blundering 
through the world from one thing to another, wasting their time 
and energy. How much better this world would be if everybody 
was in the right place! How much happier people would be; how 
much more successful they would be, and how much less real pov- 
erty, misery and even crime would exist ! 

The first among the conditions and qualifications which I pro- 
pose to enumerate as essential to the successful business man is 
Health. What can one do or accomplish with a broken down 
constitution ? or how much energy can he manifest with a weak 
stomach, liver, heart or lungs ? People do not realize how much 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 225 

they lose every year through poor health, loss of time, money, 
pleasure or happiness. True, many of them toil on and battle 
against the weakness of the flesh by force of will and ambition, but 
they only shorten their days, and by the time they have provided 
themselves with a comfortable home, or made a fortune, they die 
and leave their hard, wearisome earnings to others. Many a man 
has built him a beautiful house to live in, and about the time it was 
finished, sometimes before, he has found his bodily home to be 
underneath the ground. Nervous prostration, consumption, or 
heart disease has carried him off. Look into the faces of a lar^e 
proportion of business men and women and you can read the sad 
story of an overworked body and brain. They are pushing busi- 
ness at the expense of health and happiness. And tell me, reader, 
what good is money if you are too sick and feeble to enjoy it ? I 
remember a lady I once met in my travels, worth a quarter of a 
million, but her stomach was so weak that she dare not eat solid 
food. She would have been a much happier woman with less 
money and stronger digestive organs. Life to her was almost 
misery, and if she had been obliged to make her own way in the 
world she would have found it pretty up-hill work. 

A healthy man, other things being equal, can certainly accom- 
plish more than a sick man, not merely through vital force, which 
imparts strength and the disposition to labor, but on account of 
brain qualities. He thinks better and clearer and more intelli- 
gently, sees things in a different light, and knows better what to 
do, and has greater resolution and determination to do it. The 
sick man is easily depressed and soured in disposition; then he 
becomes irritable, peevish, fault-finding, hard to please, borrows 
trouble and goes half way to meet it, especially if his Cautiousness 
is large; but the healthy man looks on the bright side of the pic- 
ture and takes a more hopeful view of things. Think of the num- 
ber every year who have to give up business or go into something 
else on account of their bad health. About two-thirds of such 
cases are owing to downright negligence on their part; they studied 
money-making, but not themselves. In their anxiety to do busi- 
ness they overreached the mark, and in the end lost by it; whereas, 
had they taken care of themselves they might have continued on 
in their first calling and eventually succeeded. There are plenty 
of business people who hardly give themselves time to eat, and 



226 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

do not take as much care of their own stomachs and bodies as they 
do of their horses and pet dogs, cats and birds. No man can afford 
to be sick, whether he be rich or poor. His time is valuable either 
to himself, his family, or society, and to waste that time, or a part 
of it, through violation of natural laws is a sin against himself, his 
Maker, and his country. A sickly body and despondent mind has 
been the cause of many a suicide, because business cares and 
troubles weigh heavily upon such persons and produce a species of 
insanity; hence a healthy mind, which can only be obtained through 
a healthy body, is essential to success in any sphere in life. No 
weak, sickly man can be as great and powerful in any position, pro- 
fession or business as a healthy, vigorous man can. Great orators, 
statesmen and singers generally have large chest capacity; that 
is, one of the essential qualities to complete or perfect success and 
greatness in either the literary or business world is a well-devel- 
oped chest. A large chest is one of the signs of longevity; so let 
those who wish to hold out in life's struggle, and live long enough 
to reap the reward of their toil, cultivate chest power by strength- 
ening the heart and lungs. Famous race-horses have powerful 
hearts and lungs, which are just as essential in winning a victory 
as speed, because the latter needs the former to give endurance; 
otherwise the animal would be exhausted in a short distance, leav- 
ing the slower but stronger horse to win the race. So in the race 
and contest of life, men need strong, steady, enduring powers of 
mind and body as well as activity and keen perception; otherwise 
their labors and growing success will be nipped in the bud. 

The second element of success is self-knowledge, for no man 
need expect to climb far up the ladder of fame without knowing 
himself, his excesses and deficiencies, how to use himself and make 
the most of himself. He must as thoroughly understand his own 
brain mechanism and how to control it as the engineer does his 
engine, or the mechanic his tools or machine. A man ought to 
know whether he is thinking right on a subject or not, and he would 
know if he understood his mental faculties properly. And I claim 
that the science of phrenology will enable a man to understand his 
peculiarities much better than any other system of philosophy or 
kind of education. When you know the strength of every faculty, 
the size of every organ, and the relation they bear to each other in 
their combined and individual action, you can easily see and under- 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 227 

stand why you think as you do on a certain subject, why you have 
a desire to do one thing and not another; and then knowing the 
cause and source of your thoughts, motives and desires, you know 
whether they are right or wrong; not in every instance and par- 
ticular but in matters generally. Suppose for instance a man is 
deficient in concentration or continuity, which is the faculty that 
gives patience and the disposition to stick to one thing; but has 
large ambition, which imparts a desire to go ahead and to be some- 
thing or somebody, or to do some great thing; what would be the 
result of such a combination of power and weakness in business or 
in life? Just this: the individual on going into business would 
want and expect to do big things right away; he would have no 
patience to work up by degrees, and if things didn't meet his ex- 
pectations or go as he wanted them to, he would be restless, dissat- 
isfied and spasmodic in his efforts and soon give it up and go into 
something else; turning himself into a sort of business flea, jump- 
ing about and biting at one thing after another, but never accom- 
plishing anything; or he would turn his hand to all sorts of things 
and be jack of all trades and master of none. And this is what 
thousands of people are doing all over the country. Now, if these 
people really knew and realized how large ambition and small 
patience affected them in thought and action, they could and would 
by force of will and judgment counteract the unnatural tendency to 
change, and to disconnectedness of thought and purpose, and stick 
to one thing. Then they would most likely through perseverance 
eventually succeed; providing they used caution and common 
sense in starting right to begin with. 

Take another illustration : here is a man well on in years who 
has done well and accumulated a good sum of money or its equiv- 
alent in property, more than enough to enable him to live in luxury 
the remainder of his days, but he sees a chance to speculate and in 
a moment of excitement he assumes great risks; becomes involved 
in financial difficulty and finally is a total bankrupt. Like a wealthy 
banker I once heard of, a gray-haired man, who was not content 
with what he had, even in old age, but must needs invest heavily 
in some speculative enterprise till he lost everything, even his 
house and lot, and had not a roof left to cover himself or his family, 
nor a dollar save about eight or ten which his wife had in her 
pocketbook. Now, in one sense I have little sympathy for a man 



228 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

of his years and business experience who, committing such a foolish 
and rash act, leaves himself destitute. It simply goes to show that 
even old age and worldly experience is not sufficient to give a man 
a knowledge of himself. Had that banker known how unbalanced 
his mind was, his common sense would have prevented his plunging 
himself into the terrible financial disaster and ruin which brought 
sorrow and misery to his declining years. It seems almost incred- 
ible that a man would risk his last dollar in the hope that he might 
possibly double it, with nothing more for security than the circum- 
stances of the case which he might or might not see through or 
understand, and it seems to me that no person would do it unless 
blinded by a conceit of his own judgment and ability. And the 
only way for a man to prevent himself from running against the 
rocks that beset his business pathway is to know all the peculiar- 
ities of his mind, his strong and weak points combined with a gen- 
eral knowledge of the world and business principles. Selfishness 
and ambition is so large or strong in some people that it overbal- 
ances their cautiousness and judgment ; hence, they get into busi- 
ness over their heads, so to speak, and are strangled before they 
reach the glittering prize. In this way thousands have sank to rise 
no more, and I suppose thousands more will do the same foolish 
thing, because there are few men who seem to benefit by the ex- 
perience of others. They seem to think themselves too smart to 
be caught in the same trap some other knowing fox was slain in. 
Like a young man I remember who started in business, backed up 
with capital by his mother, but who lacked management and busi- 
ness tact, and was too free and easy in his way. After he had been 
running the place awhile I ventured to tell him that if he did not 
look out he would run it into the ground. He was angry at my 
statement, and remarked in a bragging way that he knew what 
he was about, but it was not long afterward before he closed up 
business, or it closed him up, in that place. Let every man and 
woman take heed to that motto of the ancient Greeks, " Know 
Thyself," which they wrote over the doors of their temples! 

The next thing to be considered as essential to success in life is 
suggested in the statement of Pope when he says, "The proper 
study of mankind is man." Therefore in addition to, and closely 
connected with, the study and knowledge of ourselves, comes the 
«''-\i 'v and knowledge of others. As human nature is pretty much 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 22Q 

the same in many respects all over the world, it naturally follows 
that when we study our own natures we indirectly study others, 
and studying others helps us in turn to understand ourselves. 
This kind of knowledge and the time we spend in acquiring it, is a 
paying investment, and will bring its own reward. No one can af- 
ford to be ignorant of human nature and character, because it is the 
pass-key to success, not only in business but in all the walks and 
callings of life. It is certainly of great importance to every person 
to know who to trust, who to put confidence in, and who not. Ig- 
norance of human nature, or the motives and principles that actuate 
and govern men is the royal road to ruin. And how few there are 
who have not lost time, money and property, and experienced 
considerable trouble, by not knowing the man or men they had to 
deal with until they found them out by sad experience. A business 
man ought to study the habits of people and the motives and prin- 
ciples that underlie human actions just as much as he studies his 
business; and wide-awake, successful men, as a rule, do. I have 
met men professionally, who have told me after examining their 
heads, that they owed and attributed their success largely to their 
knowledge of human nature. In order to know how to deal with 
men, and how to manage them, it is necessary to know their dispo- 
sition and peculiarities of mind, which can be discerned from the 
face, conversation, and manner in general. A wholesale clothing 
man once told me that he knew whether to trust a man with goods 
or not, by talking with him five minutes and taking a good look at 
him, and that he hardly ever made a mistake. 

Business men who have intelligent wives or women in their em- 
ploy, would do well to consult them occasionally as to the charac- 
ters of men they wish to trust, or enter into partnership with, be- 
cause women are generally good readers of men's characters and 
motives. A married lady once told me, just as I had completed an 
examination of her husband's head, that she had warned her hus- 
band against going into partnership with a certain man, but heed- 
less of her advice he did so, and got taken in pretty badly. Women 
may not be good judges of the value of property and business mat- 
ters generally, but unquestionably they are good judges of men. 
A young lady attending a reception room in Philadelphia, was 
asked by a strange man who stepped in, to change a ten -dollar bill 
which she did, then he wanted to give back some of the bills for 



230 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

others she had, and asked her if he could not have one in place of 
another. "No," said she, emphatically, "you can not have any more." 
She saw through him; his object was to get the money mixed up 
and herself confused, and in that way get a two or a five dollar bill 
extra. For the same man had been in other stores near by and 
played his game successfully. 

A good salesman is one who understands people and knows how 
to take them and talk to them; one will sell goods where another 
will drive a person out of the store. A saleslady in Chicago had 
gone to her dinner, and while absent an old but excitable customer 
went to the store and was waited on by another lady who, instead 
of selling goods had got the customer's temper up boiling hot, and 
she was just making her way out of the door as the other lady re- 
turned from her dinner. She stopped the woman, got her quieted 
down and pacified, then sold her what she wanted. There was the 
difference in the two ladies; the one understood human nature the 
other did not. I heard a traveling salesman speak in a church 
meeting one evening, and in his remarks stated that eight or nine- 
tenths of the people he sold goods to in his travels, were those who 
told him positively when first addressed that they did not want 
anything. Well, what did he do? Why just returned to his hotel, 
studied his man over, then called again and sold him a lot of goods, 
and the next season when he would call, he would probably see 
them lying on the shelves unsold and untouched, or the greater 
part of them, so that he sold him goods he really had no demand 
for. To some it may not look exactly right for a man to sell or try 
to sell another what he does not want, but really it is not the drum- 
mer's or agent's business to study what the merchant wants or can 
sell, that is for the merchant to study and know himself. The 
drummer's business is selling and doing all he can for the firm he 
represents. Again a good salesman can generally tell as soon as a 
person walks into the store whether he or she wants to buy goods 
or simply look around for curiosity and pastime, as many women 
in large cities do who have not much else to do. 

But not only should the man who sells understand human na- 
ture, but also the man who buys. If he does not he will either get 
a lot of worthless things palmed off on him, or else he will buy 
what he cannot sell; that is, by not understanding the tastes and 
wants of people generally will buy what they do not want, and there- 



business success and failure. 231 

fore it becomes dead stock on his hands. In my younger days, 
when I first began business and before I knew much about human 
nature and still less about buying, I got caught in both of these 
traps. An acquaintance of mine had bought a lot of cheap and 
worthless perfumery, and judging me, I presume, to be an easy 
man to sell to, he offered it cheap, at the same time praising it up 
as Lubin's best perfumes. I thought, greenhorn as I was, that the 
bait was good, so I bit at it and got caught. I perfumed my hand- 
kerchief and tried to sell it to the ladies who came in; but they 
were too sweet already or else they knew better than I did what 
good perfumery was. It was no go, and the most I could do with 
it was to perfume my room and give it away. My next experience 
was in buying pictures. I was always passionately fond of pic- 
tures, especially portraits, statuary, etc., but I was living at the 
time in a town of about five or six thousand population, where 
the taste of the people for works of art was not very well devel- 
oped. But I did not stop to think what the people liked or wanted, 
so when visiting a large city I saw a lot of beautiful pictures with 
which I was perfectly delighted, and supposed that other people 
would be too, and bought about sixty or seventy dollars worth, 
thinking I. was going to make some money out of them; but, alas! 
I was doomed to disappointment, and all I could do with my pic- 
tures was to look at them. That taught me a lesson, that when I 
bought things to sell to others, I must buy what they wanted; 
buying to please myself and buying to please others are two differ- 
ent things entirely, and the only way a man can know what others 
want or will buy is to study their tastes and natures. No doubt 
the public can be educated to appreciate a certain line or class of 
goods which they do not like at first; but unless a man has plenty 
of capital, he cannot afford to wait till he educates the people up to 
his standard or ideas of things — he must take such steps gradually 
and carefully. 

If a man has to employ help, the better he understands charac- 
ter the better will he be able to select his assistants and manage 
them after he has selected them, and a man's business success 
often depends upon the kind of help he has to do his work. 
Teachers could manage their pupils much better and teach them a 
good deal more if they knew more about them. Preachers would 
be more successful in the pulpit and the family circle if they were 



232 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

better judges of human nature, because they would know how to 
talk to men and reach their hearts; know how to adapt themselves 
and their teaching to individual and peculiar cases. 

If you ask me how you are to understand human nature, I 
answer there are two ways; one is by experience and reading news- 
papers and books, the other is by the study of the face and head 
scientifically; both combined is the best way. Some ignore those 
valuable sciences, physiognomy and phrenology, and trust to ex- 
perience; but the trouble in learning by experience is that it is a 
slow and pretty expensive way, generally, because experience 
comes too late to prevent misfortune for the time being. What a 
man wants is a knowledge that will prevent and protect. After a 
child has burnt its fingers a few times it learns by experience to 
keep away from a hot stove, but would it not be better for the child 
if it could learn without burning its fingers ? A man through neg- 
lect and indifference loses half of his teeth and learns by regretful 
experience to take care of the other half, but would it not have 
been much better to have known enough to have protected and 
saved the whole of them, which every person could do just as well 
as not? Hence, I say, learning by experience alone is of no benefit 
to a person in many instances, because it comes too late. Most 
people know there are such persons as confidence men, and the 
granger or countryman, after hearing or reading about some other 
person being roped in, says with an air of conceit, "Well, I'll bet 
they don't fleece me that way," and, perhaps, the very next time he 
enters the city a confidence man steps up to him in a plausible 
way, tells him a fine story, makes him believe he is acquainted with 
a number of his friends and gets his money away from him. Then 
he learns by experience, when it is too late, in that case at least, to 
look but for confidence men. But if he had studied physiognomy 
he might have suspected, by looks and manner, the character of the 
man and saved himself. Almost any man is liable to be taken in 
by these sharpers, so well do they play their game, if they trust 
simply to their own experience or sharpness without a practical 
knowledge of the face. The superintendent of public schools, in 
one of our large cities, told me how he used to say that he could not 
see how anybody could be so stupid as to be taken in by a confi- 
dence man, and boastingly would say he just wished one of those 
fellows would tackle him, he would like to meet one of them. Well, 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 233 

he said, it was not long before his wish was gratified. He had a 
house and lot he wanted to sell, and one evening while out in his 
garden a gentlemanly-dressed man walked up to the gate, leading 

a little girl in his hand, and said, "Good evening, Mr. ; I hear 

you want to sell your house and lot." "Well, yes, I do," said the 
superintendent, at the same time inviting the man inside. After 
looking the place over inside and out he concluded it was just such 
a place as he wanted and asked the price of it. The superintendent 
stated how many thousands he wanted, and the man said he 
thought that was a fair price, and supposed he wished the cash for 
it, to which the superintendent replied that he would not be par- 
ticular about the whole amount in cash, providing he had good 
security. "O, well," said the buyer, "I have plenty of money and 
would just as soon pay the whole amount at once." The superin- 
tendent felt pleased to think he had a cash customer, so easily made 
a sale, and an arrangement was made to meet the next morning, 
when the property and deed was to be transferred and the money 
paid over. By this time, of course, Mr. Superintendent was not 
only happy but in high spirits over the ready sale at his own figures, 
being an American; but if he had been a Jew he would have felt 
the other way, for it makes a Jew mad to be taken up at his first 
offer; because he thinks what a fool he was that he didn't ask 
more. But the superintendent, being in good humor, was of course 
in just the frame of mind to be accommodating, so as the buyer and 
confidence man was about leaving he told the superintendent that 
he had just temporarily rented some rooms for his family up the 
street, and that the woman was one of those ignorant kind who 
didn't know business matters and wanted her rent that evening; 
and as he couldn't get at his money till morning would he be kind 
enough to accommodate him with thirty-five dollars, and he would 
make it all right when he came the next day to pay for the house. 
"Why, certainly, certainly," said the school man, who knew more 
about text-books than he did about faces or human nature, so he 
cheerfully handed him the thirty-five dollars, thinking that a man 
who had plenty of money and was going to pay cash down for a 
house and lot was good for it. But, alas ! the superintendent never 
saw his money bird any more; he had played his game, got the 
money and skipped, and then the superintendent was a wiser man, 
but not quite so happy because his friends all laughed at him and 



234 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

teased him, saying he was the first man they ever heard of wno 
sold a house and lot and made the first payment on it himself. 
Still he was only doing what thousands of others are doing, getting 
a knowledge of human nature by experience at thirty-five dollars a 
lesson, and that is a good deal cheaper than some pay. 

Another very important thing to insure success in one's business 
or profession is to thoroughly understand it. The world is so full 
of botches, quacks and humbugs in all trades, professions and kinds 
of business, that it is no wonder there are so many who fail and 
never make a success of anything they take hold of. If a man is 
going to be a mechanic let him learn his trade so as to be master 
of it, because a good workman can get a job much quicker than a 
poor one. If he is going to be a lawyer or doctor let him thorough- 
ly prepare for it, so that he will know the ins and outs, the ups and 
downs, and many peculiarities incident to his profession. If he is 
to be a business man let him study his business and learn how to 
do it before he thinks of starting up for himself. How can any man, 
even if he is smart, expect to successfully compete with old estab- 
lished firms, unless by previous experience he is made competent 
to manage what he undertakes? Some people seem to think that 
all they have to do is just to rent a store and fill it with goods and 
the money will come rolling in on them. May be it would if there 
was no competition, and they kept a line of goods that were in de- 
mand, but it is one of the hardest things in the world to find a bus- 
iness and a place where there is no competition. It will pay a man 
to fully prepare himself for whatever he intends to engage in, be it 
business, a profession or mechanism. When two brutes want to 
get up a prize fight they prepare for the inhuman contest for months, 
and ought not men and women who are about to engage in the long 
struggle of life be thoroughly prepared for it? Everywhere I go I 
see men engaged in some business they do not understand, either 
because they never properly learned it or were not fit for it. And 
I claim that one of the most essential things necessary to enable a 
man to be master of whatever he undertakes, is that he possess 
natural talent for it; for a person is not likely to be proficient in 
what he has little taste or ability to acquire, any more than a stu- 
dent is likely to be smart and proficient in some study he has no 
talent and taste for. Hence the first thing for a person to do when 
choosing a profession or business or trade, is to find out what he is 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 235 

best suited for, or whether he is fit for anything more than ordinary 
labor. People would be a good deal better off financially, phys- 
ically and mentally, if men and women were only in the right place; 
as it is, I presume one-half at least are in the wrong place. How, 
then, can they possibly understand their business and be as suc- 
cessful in every particular as they ought to be? 

Two things, then, are necessary in regard to business knowl- 
edge; first, that a man get into the right business, and, secondly, 
that he understand every branch of it; and without these qualifica- 
tions he need not expect as large an amount of success as he would 
otherwise have, because even if a man is fit for the business he 
chooses, he cannot conduct it properly without understanding it 
thoroughly. I tried it once but never want to try it again, for if 
ever a mortal had trouble and up-hill work I had, just because I 
had not properly learned the art of photography. I spent about 
three months in some man's gallery who did not know much about 
it himself, and then full of ambition like most of young men, I 
started for myself; but the chemicals would not work right for me 
and everything went wrong. Sometimes I would get a picture 
and sometimes I would not. I did not understand photographic 
chemistry properly, hence my trouble, and though I learned it by 
slow experience, it did not pay me to run a gallery and pay rent in 
order to learn the business. And yet this is what hundreds of 
thousands of people are doing to-day all over the world in the 
various professions and trades. I repeat, then, that talent for and 
knowledge of a business are the two requisites for its successful 
manipulation. 

The next thing for consideration is location. Having chosen 
the right business and thoroughly prepared for it, the next impor- 
tant question is where to do business — in what city and where- 
abouts in that city, or on what street; because if a man chooses a 
bad location, his talent and preparation will avail him little. He 
will be something like a man in the water who is a good swimmer, 
but is taken with the cramps so that he can neither use his knowl- 
edge nor his muscles. Barnum, when in London or some other 
city in England, went into a show, and after looking around and 
watching and listening to the man exhibiting, got into conversa- 
tion with him and said: "My friend, you are a good showman, but 
you have got a poor location," or words to that effect; and that is 



236 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

the condition of a good many men in business, and all that pre- 
vents them from doing well. They have opened out or set up in 
the wrong place. Many a school or college has been located in the 
wrong place, and in time has fizzled out. Many a house, church, 
and even town or city has been located in the wrong place. I 
remember seeing a town somewhere in my travels in which a large 
sum of money had been expended in laying out streets and blocks 
with the expectation that the town was going to grow rapidly, but 
it never grew and probably never will, because it is not the loca- 
tion, in the present order of things, for a large town or city. So 
capitalists frequently erect factories, mills and foundries of various 
kinds where they fail to pay, because badly located. Professional 
men often choose a poor location for an office, either in the wrong 
part of the city or the wrong side of the street, or in the wrong 
kind of a building, or in connection with improper associations. 
Some men have little taste or refinement about them and get into 
a. building that has a bad entrance or surroundings, or one in 
which the offices are roughly finished, dirty looking and unfit for 
the purpose for which they are used. Such men need not expect 
the better class of people to patronize them in such holes. If men 
want to do business in refined society, they must present a tasty 
and respectable appearance, personally as well as in their places of 
business. When I enter a seminary or college to arrange for a lec- 
ture, I notice the first thing the president or principal does is to 
scan me from head to foot — that is, in many cases where I happen 
to be a stranger — and the appearance I present goes a long way 
with my making an engagement. If a man looks dirty and slovenly 
it goes against him, but if neat and tasty it speaks in his favor. 
So far it may be right to judge of a man by his clothes; but this 
kind of judgment should not be carried too far, because a blackleg 
may dress fine, and a great many people depend too much upon a 
man or woman's dress. 

Geography is a valuable study for the business man, and he 
should be well posted concerning his own country, especially if his 
business or profession requires him to travel or send out agents. 
It is a kind of business knowledge he can't afford to dispense with, 
and the more he studies the map and finds out the locations of 
towns and cities, what they are noted for, and things or places of 
interest connected with them, the more practical business knowl- 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 237 

edge will he possess. What could a general do without a knowl- 
edge of the country through which he travels to meet the enemy? 
During the late Franco-Prussian war the leaders of the German 
army were as familiar with the geography of France as the French 
were themselves, and that was undoubtedly a prominent cause of 
their success. When one of Napoleon Bonaparte's generals mis- 
took the road and marched several miles out of his way, making 
him too late to render assistance to Napoleon's army, it cost him 
the battle of Waterloo; at least that is the attributed cause of his 
failure. And is not a large wholesale merchant or manufacturer 
equally dependent upon a knowledge of the country and city to 
know where and how to dispose of his goods at the best prices, as 
well as where to get his supplies at the lowest figures ? And when 
any man contemplates starting out in life and in business for him- 
self, it will be well for him, if he can possibly do it, to travel awhile 
and look around, because where one man can do business success- 
fully another may not, for the same reason that a show or lecturer 
that draws well in one city may not in another. A man's ideas, 
tastes and manner of doing business may be better adapted to one 
class of people or city than it is to another, and this will necessa- 
rily win business friends in one place easier and quicker than 
another. Let him study himself and the customs and taste of the 
people well before he locates, then he may avoid the necessity of 
removing to some other place after two or three years' trial and 
struggle for a business foothold. 

As to the amount of capital necessary to start with, no definite 
rule can be given, as it depends largely on circumstances, the 
nature of the business, and the kind of person. One man can pull 
through and make his business go with less capital than another, 
and I presume few men begin with everything paid for. It is better 
for a beginner to start as free from incumbrances as possible. To 
be all the time close run and not have the means to push a business 
with, is very apt to terminate in bankruptcy or failure in some way. 
Better for a man to work on a salary and save up for a few years 
than to start entirely on credit, as many have done. Then again 
it is almost as bad for a man to have plenty of money to back him 
as not enough, because he is very apt to feel independent, less 
accommodating and less enterprising than he would be if he had 
nothing but what he made. And with plenty of money he is more 



238 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

lavishing and careless in expenses. I remember just such a case. 
A man who went to Chicago opened out big, got out a small paper 
and was going to do big things, but it was not more than a year or 
two before his things were in the hands of his landlord for rent. 
He had money, but he lacked good judgment and management, 
and had a poor location besides; hence as soon as his surplus money 
gave out, he was in a financial ditch and couldn't get out. But, as 
I have already intimated, some kinds of business require plenty of 
capital to begin with, and could not be started without, while other 
kinds may be commenced and carried on with a reasonable amount 
of credit. 

The next thing I wish to discuss as connected with business 
success and failure is the executive power. There are various 
elements of character that give a man the ability and disposition to 
execute his plans and carry on his business. One of them is Per- 
severance. Without that he will not surmount and work his way 
through the many difficulties and discouragements that will beset 
his career. He will too readily succumb to circumstances, and see 
a lion in the way at almost every step he takes. One of Grant's 
chief qualities was dogged perseverance — that nature which 
prompted him to say he proposed to fight it out if it took all sum- 
mer, and which made him undertake a military exploit against the 
judgment of his generals and all military tactics or rules, but which 
made him in the end a victor, crowned with lasting honors. Many 
a man through lack of perseverance has dug his own business grave. 
He did not succeed because he would not. There is not much ac- 
complished in this life without continual and persistent effort, not 
a spasmodic splurge for a little while, but steady application. The 
difference between such efforts was forcibly illustrated at the battle 
of Waterloo. The French made brilliant charges, but the British 
held their ground with such unyielding tenacity that they were un- 
able to break their columns and squares sufficient to produce a rout. 
This is the kind of grit that men want in business or in professions 
or in scientific pursuits and new enterprises. Where would our 
inventors and discoverers be without perseverance, and how would 
new countries be opened up and peopled without this important 
trait of character which laughs at difficulties and surmounts all ob- 
stacles ? Be sure you have got the right business and are located 
in the right place, then persevere with all your might, and success 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 239 

will eventually crown your labors. But if, like a wolf, you only snap 
at a thing, then instantly let go, you may keep on snapping till you 
are gray-headed without accomplishing much. Be a sort of human 
bull-dog in business affairs — that is, when you bite, hold on. 
Think of the spider, also, how it toils and spins and re-spins as fast 
as its threads and web are destroyed. Or be like the Chicago peo- 
ple after the great fire, who, homeless and penniless, many of them, 
went to work with a spirit of perseverance and zeal to rebuild their 
homes and retrieve their fortunes. They did not sit down and 
fold their arms in a fit of universal despondency and cry like a child 
over spilled milk, but the motto was, "Up and at it again." I do 
not mean that they did not feel their loss keenly, but they did not 
allow their feelings to daunt their courage and paralyze their will- 
power, and thus settle down in despair and indifference. 

Closely allied to perseverance is energy, push, and go-ahead- 
ativeness; getting up steam and driving things, pushing the busi- 
ness and reaching out after, and not waiting for people to come, or 
something to turn up. For the fact is if a man does not push his 
business it will never push itself, nor will any one else push it for 
him, unless they push it to the wall; they will certainly not push it 
ahead. It is amusing and yet suggestive to see how many ways, 
means and tricks some resort to in large cities to attract the atten- 
tion of the public, especially some of the stands on the streets, 
shows and museums. Going down the Bowery in New York one 
night I noticed a man with a stick in his hand going through all 
kinds of antics and pointing to notices on the bulletin boards. His 
object was, of course, to attract the eye, arrest travel for a moment, 
and secure attention to the advertisements of the ten cent show, 
and of course hundreds stopped to see what was going on that 
would otherwise have passed by and taken no notice. His per- 
formances were more like those of a crazy man than any other, but 
that was just the kind to attract a Bowery street crowd, which is 
generally a mixture of all elements of society, but chiefly the lower 
and middle classes, good and bad, with a pretty large share of the 
latter. A gentleman told me that one day while passing along one 
of the thoroughfares of New York, he noticed a man silently point- 
ing a stick to some articles on his stand; he naturally looked to see 
what the man was pointing at, and discovered it was the very thing 
he wanted to buy, and hardly knew where to look for it. If it had 



240 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

not been for the man pointing with his stick or cane he would have 
gone by and never seen it. These may seem strange and foolish 
actions to some people, but they secured business and brought in 
money, and made the thing a success, so every man has to find 
some way to push his business; the best way is for him to study 
out according to the nature of the business and the place he is 
doing it. A man can sell almost anything if he finds the right 
place and right way to do it. I once heard of a man who was sell- 
ing some insignificant and almost useless article at small prices on 
a street corner, when finally a matter-of-fact gentleman came along, 
and thinking he was wasting his time to no purpose said to him, 
"Why don't you get something useful to sell that people need and 
will buy, because nobody but a fool would buy one of those things." 
"I grant that," said the street peddler, "that nobody but a fool will 
buy one, but how many fools do you suppose pass by here in the 
run of a day?" That was a point the critic had not thought of 
before. 

Another important characteristic in business is force, execution, 
the carrying out of one's ideas and plans. Some people are forever 
planning but never executing or putting into practice their ideas. 
They are practically day dreamers, have lots of business ideas but 
seldom make any use of them, and therefore, accomplish little. 
The successful man is the one who works out his plans, who the 
moment he has matured an idea makes a practical use or applica- 
tion of it. Business with him is business, something to be attended 
to right away ; there is no nonsense with him, no foolishness, no 
idling of time and loitering around, gossiping and joking. His 
mottoes are: "Be up and doing while the day lasts — now is the 
time — strike while the iron is hot — make hay while the sun shines — 
procrastination is the thief of time — be sure you are right then go 
ahead." He wants no drones in his employ, but live, active men. 
He works himself and expects everybody else to do the same. 
That is the kind of spirit that wins success, because it possesses 
business industry. This talent (for it is a talent) arises from 
the organ of destructiveness, and is the backbone of business enter- 
prise and ability. Energy, which springs from combativeness, 
makes a man fight difficulties and opposition, but force gives him 
the impetus to go through it. Force in the individual is what 
weight and strength are to the locomotive; it is that wherein its 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 241 

force or power consists, whereas, energy may be compared to its 
speed or propelling power. The power to execute is what every 
man should study and vigorously cultivate who is deficient in it, 
otherwise he will be swallowed up by opposing forces, unless other 
elements in his character help to carry him through. The way to 
cultivate it is to do your very best to execute your plans and 
accomplish whatever you undertake. In other words turn your 
thoughts into actions or instead of merely thinking about what you 
would like to do, go to work and do it. Stagnated thoughts are 
as useless and unwholesome as stagnant water. It is living 
thoughts and plans that bring the financial harvest. Hence, the 
successful man is a live man, not a theorist or visionist whose 
imagination suspends him half way between earth and heaven. A 
visionary and imaginative mind is very good where it belongs, but 
not good for business management ; that requires a mind more 
worldly and practical. 

But men not only require perseverance, energy and force, but 
concentrated effort as well, and where a great many fail is through 
a lack of concentration of their talents and energies to the one 
thing or one business which they have in hand. Too many irons 
in the fire at once keeps a man in hot water all the time, and the 
result is he does nothing thoroughly ; he becomes jack of all trades 
and master of none. When you hear of some big firm going to 
smash financially, you will be pretty sure to find on investigation 
that they were dabbling in something outside of their legitimate 
and prosperous business. They were probably speculators in min- 
ing stocks or some new and risky enterprise. I am speaking now 
of firms that have been doing a good paying business, not those 
who have been battling against adversity and want of business from 
the time they commenced till necessity or their creditors compelled 
them to suspend. One thing at a time is the safest course to pur- 
sue under ordinary circumstances and with ordinary people. Here 
and there a man may have branch stores or two or three kinds of 
business and be successful, but these are exceptions, not the rule. 
Far better to give your entire mind, energy and time to the study 
and management of one thing. 

But the thought I more particularly wish to bring out under the 
head of concentration is sticking to one thing. So many become 
sort of jumping-jacks from one thing to another all through life 



242 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

that they never get beyond mediocrity, never become experts at 
anything, nor reach a point of eminence, A life of earnest toil in 
the pursuit of one thing generally brings reward and success of 
some kind. Every young man and woman should have a definite 
aim, object or purpose in life. One of the saddest remarks I ever 
heard made was by a young man who, in company with another, 
was walking along a street in Chicago just in front of me one 
evening. They were talking loud, and I heard him say: "Well, I 
don't care; I have no object in life to live for:" And I thought to 
myself, then you are certainly an object of great pity. For young 
men and women to start out in life without any definite object 
before them as to what they expect to do or intend to be, is to live 
at least a useless life, and one that may very likely lead to ruin and 
the penitentiary. Let every person set a mark before them, some- 
thing beyond their present reach, scope or ability, and then let 
every move they make and every step they take be toward that 
point or object. Let them pursue a straight, steady and constant 
course until they reach the height of a noble ambition, or come as 
near to it as possible. By concentrating your time and talent upon 
one thing or purpose all through life, you will accomplish more for 
yourself, and the world too. Then you will not be dividing and 
applying your talent to two or three things, or changing your occu- 
pation three or four times, in a brief career. The desire for change, 
mingled with a lack of patience is so strong in people nowadays 
that the natural tendency is to drift from one thing to another and 
change from place to place, if business does not loom up on the 
start as they anticipated. The lack of patience and continuity is 
the reason why some are never thorough in anything they do, 
never finish up a job thoroughly; begin a thing, then jump off to 
something else, or hurry over what they are about and leave it in a 
slovenly, half-finished condition; just as some mechanics half finish 
their work, and servants who do things half way about the house. 
They are always cleaning, and yet things are never cleaned, because 
they do not dwell on a thing long enough to do it properly. And 
that is the principle on which some men do their business or attend 
to their professional calling, and then wonder why they are not 
more successful. I have known men in book and news stores, for 
instance, to be full of excitement over some new book or paper 
and try to sell it for a few days, then as soon as the novelty died 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 243 

away their interest would give out, and they would pitch it one 
side to try something else; whereas, another man with more 
patience and interest would keep it before the public and sell the 
same book or article for months or years. How difficult it is to 
find two or more persons engaged in ordinary conversation stick to 
the same subject five minutes at a time. One is sure to interrupt 
the other, who is explaining his views, by asking a question or 
making a suggestion relative to some other topic or side issue, and 
then the conversation. is instantly turned upon something else, and 
thus it goes on, changing every minute or two, till in the course of 
half an hour or more they have talked on all the current affairs of 
the day without doing justice to any one of them; and when peo- 
ple allow their thoughts and minds to be so changeable in conver- 
sation, they are very apt to become so in business, even though 
they may not perceive it. 

Integrity or square dealing is an important element in the busi- 
ness and professional man's make-up also. A good many do not 
believe this doctrine, judging from their mean, unprincipled tricks, 
for they skin everybody they can. Walking out one Sunday after- 
noon in Washington, D. C, with a little girl, the daughter of a 
friend of mine, she called my attention to a small confectionery and 
candy store. Said she: "That woman does not keep open on Sun- 
days, but she steals enough through the week to make up for it," 
and then told me how she overcharged her for something she got; 
took advantage of the girl because she was young, I suppose. So 
common are these sharp tricks among business men that one has 
to be on the lookout all the time as though he was watching 
thieves, or else get imposed upon. Even large stores and firms, 
where one would suppose they would be above little, mean prac- 
tices, will bear close watching. These people seem to think that 
way of doing business pays. Perhaps it does for the time being, 
but not in the long run. Let a man establish a reputation for 
honest dealing and he will gain the esteem and confidence of the 
whole community. Even children are so educated that their minds 
are imbued with the idea that it shows smartness and originality 
to take advantage, get the best of a bargain, and make money by 
mere policy, trickery and cunning. To make money is the chief 
ambition of men, but as to how they make it is a matter of indif- 
ference, providing they only get it. But let a man once become 



244 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

known as a sharper and trickster, and even dishonest people, as 
those of his own stripe, will be pretty careful how they deal with 
him, if at all; and I venture the assertion that a rogue or thief 
would rather buy goods of an honest than a dishonest man, unless 
in the latter case it was a matter of friendship or mutual interest. 
The amount of money a man takes in is not all that constitutes his 
success. He may steal himself rich, or in some way make a large 
amount of money by fraud and deception, but I should not apply 
the term business success to such a person. Business implies an 
exchange of goods or labor for value received, and that is based 
upon honesty or square dealing between man and man; hence I 
call that man a success who prospers by straightforward dealing. 

Punctuality is also of the utmost importance in business mat- 
ters. To be on time and to keep an engagement at the appointed 
hour is as necessary as keeping one's word or paying a bill. A few 
minutes late may make a great difference in results, not only to the 
person you disappoint but also to yourself. I heard of a gentle- 
man who resided in New York city, I believe, who by misfortune 
had been thrown out of business, and his friends did their best to 
help set him on his feet again, and had arranged with some prom- 
inent business man to meet him for a consultation in reference to 
an interest in his business which was considered very remunerative 
and a splendid opportunity. The time and place were arranged 
and the gentleman in business was at the place sharp at the hour 
or about five minutes ahead; he waited a few minutes but the un- 
fortunate man did not appear. Willing to give him a few minutes 
grace, he waited ten or twenty minutes after the hour mentioned, 
but he did not come, and so he returned to his own place of busi- 
ness. Ten or fifteen minutes later the dilatory man put in an ap- 
pearance only to be disappointed. Another effort was made for a 
meeting but of no avail, as the prompt business man would not on 
any consideration take a man into partnership with him who was 
so negligent, careless and indifferent. Hence, by being a few min- 
utes late, he lost the best chance in his life. I never could see the 
sense of a person having a time or appointing a time to do a thing 
if they did not intend to be punctual. If I were to make an ap- 
pointment to lecture at eight o'clock and got to the hall at half-past 
eight or a quarter to nine, I should expect to find empty seats. 
Nevertheless, I have known an audience to be a half hour late in 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 245 

getting together, for in some places it is a common habit with the 
people to be behind time. I gave a course of lectures in a certain 
male and female seminary in the West, and found every evening 
the students were late. They seemed to have little regard for 
exact time, and it did not speak well for the government and influ- 
ence of the school. Some business men, who employ a large num- 
ber of hands, have deemed it necessary to adopt a system of fines 
for late employes. They had to do this or lose many hours work 
every day, besides experiencing other losses and inconveniences 
through the careless and indifferent habits of others. It seems a 
little rigid at first thought to fine or send an employe home for a 
quarter or a half a day, but when you take into consideration the 
confusion and loss of time that would take place where there are 
from fifty to two or three hundred hands employed, and most of 
them coming in five, ten or fifteen minutes late, it is self-evident 
that rules of punctuality must be enforced. When railroad officials 
publish a time-table the public expect the trains to leave at the 
minute advertised, not ten minutes before or after, and when a 
train happens to be late, which is often the case, and I suppose 
cannot be avoided sometimes, the passengers or those waiting are 
restless, and every minute seems like ten., Speculators dealing in 
grain or stocks may make or lose heavily in being a few minutes 
early or late in their arrival and delivery at a certain point. In 
fact, a man pretending to do business who has no regard for punc- 
tuality, who is constantly promising to do or have a thing done, 
and as often disappointing, is a public nuisance. Of course, cir- 
cumstances may prevent the best of men from keeping their prom- 
ises occasionally, especially in a business that is dependent on the 
weather, like photography for instance. But there are plenty of 
business men who make promises just to please their customers, 
and as soon as they are gone forget all about them or wait till a 
convenient time comes around to attend to them. And there are 
thousands of people who make engagements without making any 
effort to keep them, and frequently have no intention of doing so 
at the time. This sort of thing is very annoying to a business or 
professional man. People often come to me and make an engage- 
ment to meet me at my office or hotel and that will be the last I 
will see of them, or they will perhaps come an hour or day or two 
later than they agreed. They will do the same thing with a den- 



246 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

tist and other classes, thereby causing a vast amount of inconve- 
nience, disappointment and loss of time and money. Though I 
understand that when a person makes a positive engagement for a 
:ertain hour, say with a dentist, and he reserves that time for them 
and they fail to come, he can collect his pay, and it is only right he 
should, even from a business point of view. On the same principle 
if a landlord neglects to call a person up in time to take a train and 
he fails to meet an engagement and loses money through the fail- 
ure of the landlord to do his duty, he can collect damages from 
him. Time is money in more ways than one, and the man who 
wants to be successful must be punctual and give people to under- 
stand that when he mentions a definite time he means to be on 
hand as near as possible to the minute. I remember the principal 
of a high school in one of our large cities telling me that he was 
anxious to get an appropriation for a new school building, and one 
of the influential members of the board he had to see was a difficult 
man to manage, and his success depended largely on how he 
impressed him. He was a lawyer and a busy man; so one day he 
called at his office and told him he wanted to talk with him five 
minutes. "Well," said the lawyer, "go ahead." He briefly and 
pointedly stated the necessities and reasons for a new building, and 
after speaking four minutes he stopped. The lawyer, looking at 
his watch, told him he had another minute. "No," said the prin- 
cipal, "I am through," and retired. He got the appropriation for 
a fine new building. "But," said he, "I believe if I had talked over 
my time I should not have received his indorsement and influence, 
and therefore no new building. He saw the principal talked busi- 
ness in a business way, and meant what he said, and that favorably 
impressed him. Five minutes too much talk will sometimes do 
the speaker a great deal of harm. In business matters there is a 
great deal in knowing what to say, how to say it, when to say it, 
and how much time to take in doing it. If there is any kind of 
person a business man detests, it is a bore — one who talks, talks, 
talks, and never knows when to stop. Say what you have to say, 
and do what you have to do, in as brief a time as possible; then 
retire and give others a chance to do the same thing. I have seen 
men and women hang around and talk mostly for the sake of talk- 
ing, while others would be impatiently waiting for them to get 
through. No idea nor regard for time whatever; no concern as to 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 247 

how much inconvenience they put others to, so long as they have 
their talk and ask all the useless or unnecessary questions they 
can think of. I notice this peculiarity about a woman in business 
matters. When she calls to see a business or professional man, she 
wants considerable time and attention given and shown to her, and 
if she does not get it, she thinks she is not used right; but when a 
person goes to see a business woman, she generally wants to get 
through as quick as possible. 

Again, the successful business man is one who studies and prac- 
tices economy. He keeps down expenses as far as consistent with 
the advertising and carrying on of his business. He allows no 
waste or leakage, no extravagant use of materials, but does his 
business with as little outlay as possible. In other words, he spends 
as little and takes in as much as he can. They work on the prin- 
ciple that a penny saved is a penny earned, and so while they study 
how to make, they study how to save, also. This is where some 
men fail; they try to make but are indifferent about saving, and al- 
low a constant waste or leakage somewhere in their business, which, 
like a cancer, eventually eats them up. There is such a thing, how- 
ever, as a man being too saving. I mean, penurious and small in 
his ideas and expenditures, not liberal enough for his own interest; 
that is the other extreme. In the former case he loses by careless 
waste, in the latter by being penny wise and dollar foolish. Gen- 
erally the men who give largely for benevolent purposes, are very 
economical in business and in their mode of living. The careless 
spendthrift and high-living class do not have much to give or else 
are not that way inclined, so that the economical class, as a rule, do 
the most good with their money, providing they have enough lib- 
erality to prevent them from being stingy and mean. Economy 
which is the medium between two extremes, either of which may 
lead a man to poverty, is certainly the best thing for a business man 
to adopt and practice, for it leadeth unto wealth. Cents make dol- 
lars, and it is the little driblets that some men think too small to 
notice, that count up and reduce the profits so largely in the course 
of a year. To be careful over little things is to become master 
over greater. 

Foresight and calculation must also enter into the business man's 
composition, that he may guard against unseen dangers and sur- 
prises of a financial nature. He must be ready to meet emergen- 



248 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE, 

cies. It is a strong point in the qualifications of a good general, 
that he be not taken by surprise, unawares or unprepared to meet 
the enemy; and thus it should be with the business man who is 
liable to be affected by the failure of others, decline of trade or 
prices, panics, bad weather, and other causes. I knew of a wealthy 
business man in the West who had a note against him for eighty 
thousand dollars, and some one or more of his enemies started a 
rumor that he was likely to fail, or some such story, and of course 
he was suddenly pressed for the payment of the note, and although 
it came upon him unawares and made him hop around lively to col- 
lect the money, he managed to meet it and saved himself and his 
credit. Anothef case which will illustrate this point, is that of a 
western merchant who went to New York to buy goods. He 
wanted to establish his credit and produce a good impression, so he 
collected all the money he could possibly get together and took it 
with him or a check for that amount, and on arriving in the city 
proceeded to the wholesale house he had been doing business with 
and began selecting goods; after a while the salesman saw he was 
buying a far heavier stock than he had been in the habit of doing 
at one time, and as he had always bought on time the salesman 
quietly informed the proprietor of the fact, who immediately sent 
for him to come to his office, which was just what he anticipated. As 
soon as the western merchant stepped in the proprietor said: "Ain't 
you buying pretty heavy this time?" "Well, yes," said he, "I am. 
I thought I would buy about twenty thousand dollars worth and here 
is the check for it." Suffice it to say his credit was good after that, 
and, I presume, no more questions were asked about how much he 
was buying. But had he began to buy heavy without anything extra 
to back him, he would have injured his credit and consequently his 
business. So men must look ahead and calculate on the cost of 
their undertakings and make allowances for contingencies, other- 
wise their golden plans may be nipped in the bud, and the scowl of 
disappointment darken their brows. If a man intends to build a 
house he must first sit down and count the cost, and when he buys 
goods and contracts debts, he must closely figure on the amount, 
and how he is going to meet his obligations, or the first thing he 
knows he will be involved in financial difficulties from which he 
may not be able to extricate himself; all for the want of calculation 
and foresight. In proportion as men cultivate the habit of looking 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 249 

ahead will they be able to see their way more clearly and know 
what is best to do and not to do. It cultivates a sort of prophetic 
nature, and prominent, successful business men as well as specula- 
tors, are those who seem to know beforehand what will pay. Some 
men hardly ever touch a thing but what it turns into gold, while 
others seem to meet misfortune in nearly everything they try; it is 
mostly due to what I term foresight and calculation, and if a man 
wants this talent he must cultivate it constantly by trying to read 
the signs of the times, the course certain events are likely to take, 
by making comparisons with past and present conditions and cir- 
cumstances. He must also have a good knowledge of the business 
world, and human nature, so as to know the motives that actuate 
men and therefore likely to bring about certain results. 

Closely allied to foresight is intuition or first impressions, which 
spring from the same faculty that gives one the talent to read 
human nature or faces at first sight. The organ, phrenologically, 
is located at the top and center of the forehead, and is large in 
most American heads. And if a man knows how to use this very 
valuable and self-protecting faculty, it will do more than anything 
else to carry him safely through life. Whenever you meet a stran- 
ger he produces an instantaneous impression upon your mind as to 
his merits or motives, and in like manner when a man makes a bus- 
iness proposition or suggestion to you, there will arise in your mind 
at the moment an impression as to the desirability of accepting or 
rejecting his proposition, or as to the value and merits of the thing 
or subject presented, whether it be of a business, social or profes- 
sional nature. And it is this first impression, as a rule, you should 
be governed by, and should act upon, providing your faculty of in- 
tuition is large, which any good phrenologist or physiognomist can 
easily tell you, or which you can find out by making a few tests or 
trials of your ability to read people by first impressions. It will 
require a little experience and observation on your part to know 
when and how far to be governed by these impressions; but it will 
pay any man to study and thoroughly understand the workings of 
his mind in this particular, for a man's success or failure very large- 
ly depends upon the impressions he acts upon. Choosing which 
course to pursue in reference to the untried future, is something 
like a traveler coming to a point where another road branches off, 
and he is at a loss to know which to take to reach the desired 



250 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

place. He gets an impression as to which road he ought to take, 
and upon the correctness or falseness of that impression depends 
his pursuing the right direction. He will most likely get up a de- 
bate in his own mind as to which road to take, and is about as like- 
ly to take the wrong as the right, unless he knows which impression 
to follow, and it is just so in business. There will be times in a 
man's life, when he will be puzzled to know which way to turn, or 
what direction to take, and would it not be worth something to him 
to know which of the many impressions that crowd upon his mind 
to follow ? It may not be wise to follow first impressions every 
time and in every case, and it would be extremely difficult to ex- 
plain on paper exactly when you should and should not do so, but 
I will make this suggestion from my own experience for a number 
of'years, and which has never failed. When a sort of prophetic im- 
pression dawns or flashes upon your mind for a moment and passes 
away without calling up a question as to whether it will be so or 
not, that is the one to follow, and things will be just as you are im- 
pressed. But if the impression so comes that you begin to think 
and reason the matter over, or comes up again in your mind a few 
minutes or hours or days afterwards, then it will not take place. 
On this principle I frequently know things or see things in my 
mind just as correctly and positively as though they had taken 
place. The greatest difficulty is in being able to act upon them 
without arguing or reasoning about them in one's own mind. Such 
impressions are higher than reason, and therefore a truer light to 
follow. They emanate from a faculty or faculties located higher up 
in the brain, and therefore of greater importance. I say faculties, 
for I am not sure but the organ of spirituality or faith gives rise to 
some of these impressions. All people may not, in fact do not, 
have them so strongly marked, but a great many have, and some 
few, and only a few, I fear, make good use of them. I will give an 
illustration of how these impressions work and how they may be 
used. For instance: I had an engagement with a gentleman at a 
certain hour and something was to turn up that he could not or 
would not be on hand. I should be sure to have a transient im- 
pression to that effect, but if the impression again came up or lin- 
gered on my mind so that I began to query and ponder over it as 
to whether he would come or not, I should know the impression 
amounted to nothing, and would therefore expect to see him. I 




THE BUSINESS EYE. 

This eye is sharp and shrewd in managing human nature in a business way, and for 
self-interest. Can tell business lies whenever necessary to gain a point or evade exposing 
themselves or their plans. I do not regard it as a thievish, dishonest eye, by any means. 
It generally possesses good judgment and common sense, and seems well adapted to plan 
and manage. Observe the drooping, hanging layer of flesh over the outer corner, which 
is the sign of the above description. 




THE HOG EYE. 

Observe the small, flat form of this eye, and the lack of well defined eye-lids. There 
is nothing noble or spiritual in its expression. It is simply a cunning, animal eye, almost 
destitute of soul capacity. 




Thought, talent and power of mind, combined with pleasure, generosity and consid- 
erable mirthfulness. The wrinkles running outward and downward from the eye, gener- 
ally indicate a jolly, laughing nature, or one who can enjoy and appreciate mirth, 
especially the lines running from the outer corner. 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 25 I 

frequently know how a person feels, what he thinks and intends to 
do in reference to a matter before I hear from him, though he may 
be hundreds of miles away. These may be peculiar impressions, 
and I do not know how many people have them, but I do know 
that thousands have what I term first impressions about people, 
characters and business matters at first sight, and when they act 
upon them come out all right, and when they do not, are generally 
sorry for it afterwards. And a great many business men will sub- 
stantiate this statement. 

Good and regular habits are among the indispensable qualifica- 
tions of a successful business man. Not but what bad men some- 
times become wealthy, but it never does them any good, nor any 
one else, and their apparent success is but for a season; it dies with 
them and very often before they do. As a rule, a young man who 
begins life by sowing his wild oats and running into various kinds 
of dissipation, going out with fast young company and returning 
home all hours of the night, is not the man who ever amounts to 
much and becomes, in the general acceptation of the word, a suc- 
cess. He spends his money too freely; unfits his mind and brain 
for business; neglects his duties to himself, his customers, and his 
office or store; loses self-respect, ambition and energy, without 
which he must certainly be a failure. Dissipating habits will bring 
a man to a financial grave about as quick as anything I know of; 
for just as consumption saps a man's constitution and literally eats 
him up, so bad habits eat up his business and pocket-book, and 
leave him a wreck, and too often an irreparable one. Sometimes 
men prosper for years and then suddenly collapse, because they 
have spent their money to gratify some passion, either for drink, 
women, or an extravagant style of living; or, it may be, to satisfy 
the passion of a wife for dress. Any one of these evils is sufficient 
to ruin a man unless he has millions to fall back upon. It is not 
every man who can bear rapid prosperity or the inheritance of 
wealth. It takes a well-balanced mind, with considerable self-con- 
trol, to guard against the intoxicating, bewildering and exhilarating 
effects of swift and sudden financial prosperity. The man who 
gradually makes his money by hard work, knows better how to take 
care of it, and puts on less airs in the possession of it, than he who 
gets it in a lump with little or no effort on his own part. The 
"swells" of society and that class known as " codfish aristocracy," 



252 BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 

who make a great display and pretensions at the summer resorts 
and other places where they can show off, are not the really 
wealthy class, nor among those who, by personal toil and industry 
have climbed to the top of financial success. There seems to be 
three ways of making money, viz.: by economy, speculation, and 
trading or general business. The most wealthy men are very 
economical in their method of conducting business and living 
expenditures; hence do not pay seven, ten, or fifteen dollars a day 
at some hotel to feed their stomachs and put on a few airs. 

The last element of character connected, with business success 
that I wish to notice is a clear, quick, bright, wide-awake mind, 
which enables its possessor to determine at a glance or moment's 
reflection whether to do a thing or not, whether to make a certain 
business move or purchase, or let it alone. Make a business propo- 
sition to some men, and they are like some women who, when a 
man proposes marriage to them, want a week or two to think the 
matter over, while some men have minds that seem to work like a 
flash of lightning, and about as soon as a suggestion or proposition 
is fairly before them, they have their minds made up and are ready 
to say yes or no. I do not mean to say, however, that people 
should not give important questions due consideration, or that it is 
always a sign of smartness and foresight to hastily decide any and 
every thing. What I mean is that some minds see through a thing 
quicker and clearer than others, have a keener business perception 
as to what is right and best; just as some minds can solve and see 
through a mathematical problem easier than others, and unfold or 
unravel a metaphysical mystery or puzzle. Such minds are gener- 
ally free from passion, and possessed of a good degree of intellec- 
tual vigor, if not physical, as well. They are born bright and sharp, 
and begin to develop that peculiar gift early in life, and unless very 
serious obstacles oppose their progress through life, are pretty sure 
to be successful in business. The clearness of people's minds in 
general, however, will depend largely upon the condition of their 
livers and blood; hence whatever kind of food or habits of life tend 
to derange the liver and blood may also be the means of injuring 
men in their business career. I received a severe lesson in this 
respect myself some years ago, which I shall never forget. I had 
arranged to give a lecture on a certain evening, and about a day 
before the time I was taken with a bilious attack; my liver being 



BUSINESS SUCCESS AND FAILURE. 253 

sluggish in its action. I was in a dilemma what to do, as it was a 
special occasion and I did not wish to disappoint my audience, 
though I knew I was in no condition to speak. I walked up and 
down the street trying to wear or throw off the stupor of my brain, 
but did not succeed. The hour came and I attempted to lecture, 
though my head was more like that of a man drunk than sober. I 
soon found after I began lecturing, that it was impossible for me to 
think clearly and intelligently, and I blundered through as best I 
could. Suffice it to say I spoiled my lecture, made a poor impres- 
sion upon the audience and injured myself in the estimation of the 
people professionally. Of course I ought not to have lectured, but 
being sick I did not seem to know what to do, my brain was so 
muddled. That taught me a lesson. I saw if I was going to lec- 
ture (far that was in the beginning of my career) I must take care 
of my liver and have a clear mind. A man should be very careful 
how he operates in business and what decisions he comes to when 
his liver is out of order, because not only is his mind befogged, but 
he feels blue and despondent, and consequently looks on the dark 
side of the picture, and if his organ of cautiousness is very large he 
is afraid to move almost for fear of some calamity or misfortune, 
and is very apt to do the very thing to bring trouble upon him in- 
stead of avoiding it; just as some people in looking over a deep 
precipice become so dazed and stupefied that they loose presence of 
mind and jump over. In the spring of 1881, I met a man at Wat- 
kins Glen, N. Y., who was visiting one of the gorges there. He had 
got there ahead of me and wanted to go further up, but there was 
a narrow stream to step over just above one of the falls. The small 
boy would have jumped over without a moment's hesitation, but his 
caution was so large that he was afraid to venture, and would have 
returned without seeing one-quarter of the gorge if I had not met 
him and went along with him. In fact, his fear awakened some in 
myself, for although it was but a simple place to step or jump over, 
there was danger in one slipping and being washed over the preci- 
pice. During the summer season the place is fixed up safe for vis- 
itors, but this was before the season had opened, and the ice and 
snow during the winter had washed away many of the safeguards. 
So one nervous, frightened or despondent man in business will often 
frighten half a dozen others. The best thing for people to do in 
battling through life is to keep a stiff upper lip, be courageous, calm 
and hopeful, and keep their minds and brains as clear as possible. 



MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND RELIGIOUS 
CHARACTER. 



The Early History of the Race — The Jews, their Intellectual Ability — Predominance of 
the Propensities — Cause of Jewish Bitterness toward Christ — His Work — Miracles, 
Parables — New Testament and Old Testament Dispensations — The Ten Command- 
ments — Why they were Reduced to Two when Christ came —The Growth of the 
Race Compared to the Growth of a Child — The Spiritualization of Man — Three 
Ages: the Iron, the Silver, the Golden — Man a Progressive Being — Thiee Divisions 
of the Brain — Organic Quality as Affecting Man's Spiritual Nature — Selfish Pro- 
pensities — How the Church has Gained its Present Influence — Three Evils in the 
Church — Rich Men, their Influence in the Church — The Character of Judas — Min- 
isters, their Relation to Finances — A Charlatan— -How Church Buildings are Im- 
properly used — The Acquisition of Members — Genuine and Spurious Revivals — 
The Mistake Revival Leaders and Religious Teachers are apt to make — Why it is 
so hard for a Rich Man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven — Fashion in the Church 
—Its Injurious Effects — The Organs from which the spirit of Fashion arises — How 
Vanity is created — Why Poor People do not attend Church more — Sitting at the 
Communion-Table with Gloves on — Why Persons fail to Perceive their Faults — 
Preachers who get large Salaries — Fashionable Church People — Disposition of 
Church Members — Cause and Diversity of Dispositions — The Hardest thing the 
Gospel has to Conquer — Two Opposite Conditions of the Heart — Meanness — Quar- 
relsome Spirit in Churches — The Unfair-dealing Spirit among Christians — Self- 
praise in Churches — Relation of Members to each other — The lack of Friendship 
among Christians — Indications of a Worldly Spirit in the Church — What Satan 
would look like in Human Form— How every Faculty is Pictured in the Human 
Countenance — Description of Mean Tricks Practiced among Christians — Being 
Large-hearted — How to Determine the kind of Heart one has — Lukewarm 
Christians. 

Funeral Prayer-Meetings: Why they are so — Carelessness of the Church in regard 
to Young Members — The Policy of the Church toward them Wrong — Lack of the 
Social Element in the Church — How Church Sociables are generally Conducted — 
The Failure of the Church to Develop Talent among its Members — Mechanical 
Prayer-Meetings. 

The Mental Heart and Conversion: The Human Soul a Trinity — The Work of 
Conversion Threefold — Definition of the Powers of the Soul — Three Things Nec- 
essary to Salvation — Marriage — Positive and Negative Forces of the Soul — The 
Seat of the Heart — The Scriptural Heart — The Cerebellum the Impulsive Power 
of the Heart— What makes the Affections active — Hatred, its Cause — The Source 
of all Evil in the Soul — Religion not yet reached the Heart — How the Heart can 
be made Softer and more Susceptible — Cause of Irreligious Nature — Marriage 
Prostitution — Napoleon Bonaparte — Education of Offspring — The Chief Hardening 
Process of the Heart— Difference between Moral and Religious Character. 



MODERN CHRISTIANITY. 255 

Conversion: Scriptural Definition of it — What Spiritual Death and Life is — Conversion 
of Paul — What it is in our Spiritual Nature that Sins and needs Conversion — What 
it is to Become as a Little Child — Three Steps in Conversion— Favorable and Un- 
favorable Conditions to Conversion — Perverted Amativeness — How it repels the 
Gospel — How Sensuality is Transmitted to the Unborn Child — The Extent of De- 
ranged Amativeness — Libertines not Interested in the Church — The Sentimental 
Nature, how it rejects the Gospel — Dancing and Theaters — Aristocratic Feeling — ■ 
Object of Conversion — Physiological Qualifications Essential to Successful Preach- 
ing — How some Ministers Harden their Hearers — The Amount of Religious Char- 
acter Depending on certain Conditions — How the Faculties Influence Religious 
Character — Phrenological Explanation of the Three Graces: Faith, Hope and 
Charity — Ideas of Heaven — Christian Character shown in the Countenance — 
Parable of the Sower — Genuine Christians — Can Man be Lost after he is Converted 
— Definition of the Will — Free Will, what it is — God's Will — Doctrine of Election 
Explained — Is Salvation Limited or Unlimited — Was Christ's Death for all the 
World, or part of it — The Extent of Man's Freedom. 



In the early history of the race, the animal nature of man was 
the most predominant; their intellectual ability and religious nature 
being deficient in itself, or deficient in culture and development. 
The faculties were there, but not enough time had elapsed to bring 
them into activity; hence their ideas of God, his nature, works and 
laws were crude and limited. The Jews, God's chosen people, were 
dull and slow to comprehend spiritual truth. They frequently fell 
into idolatry — an act which clearly indicates deficient intellectual 
culture, because the intellect is the instructor of the religious fac- 
ulties, teaching and controlling them as to the mode and object of 
worship. No being with an enlightened intellect would fall down 
and worship a golden calf. Such an act was the exercise of vener- 
ation in connection with the animal propensities, and that was the 
sum total of Jewish worship. Their whole history verifies the idea 
that intellectual power, perceptive and reflective, was of a low order. 
They had to be taught the sovereignty and character of Jehovah by 
miracles and wonderful manifestations of Divine power and wisdom. 
They worshiped God by sacrifice, because they were not far enough 
advanced or enlightened to worship him in a spiritual sense. So 
their religion was one of ceremony, being adapted t;o their physical 
nature, and serving as food for the propensities rather than the 
intellect. The slaying of animals for sacrifices and burnt offerings 
called into action the propensities, not the intellect. Thus the 
exercise of the destructive propensities was a part of their religion, 
because they could understand and enjoy that form of worship bet- 



256 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

ter than one of a higher nature. Even their wars seemed to form 
a part of their religion, and likewise gratified their propensities. 
So, also, their unequaled commercial, trading, selfish spirit arose 
from the predominance of the selfish or animal propensities over 
their intellectual and moral faculties. No one can carefully and 
studiously read the Old Testament without seeing how much of 
the animal and how little of the moral and intellectual character 
there was in the Jews; and nowhere else is it more apparent than 
in the three years' ministry of Christ. Anything of a commercial 
nature they were not slow to comprehend, and saw no harm in 
securing or saving the life of an animal on the Sabbath day; but 
thought it a great sin to heal a human being or pluck a few ears of 
corn to satisfy hunger. Thus the selfish, commercial and animal 
traits of character in them constantly showed themselves in every- 
thing they said or done. It was the low organization and excessive 
animalism of the Jews that made them so bitter and hateful to- 
ward Christ and his teachings. It was that which made the Mosaic 
Jews a murmuring, disloyal and idolatrous people, and the Apostolic 
Jews a contentious, backbiting, unruly, and grossly immoral set of 
Christians. 

When Christ commenced his labors, he first identified himself 
with the Old Testament dispensation, and proved his Divinity and 
authority by the performance of miracles. But when he wished to 
introduce his new and more advanced dispensation, he left off work- 
ing miracles, and began speaking in parables. His miracles be- 
longed to materialism — the spirit of the old dispensation — and 
addressed themselves to their physical senses, and to the lower 
order of intellect — namely, the perceptive faculties. But his par- 
ables appealed to the reasoning faculties — in fact, to the whole of 
the intellect, reflective and perceptive, but especially the former. 
Thus the New Testament dispensation has placed religion on a 
higher plane, by making it applicable to man's higher nature — the 
moral and intellectual faculties. The New Testament dispensation 
appeals to the heart and intellect; the Old, to the heart and pro- 
pensities. The ten commandments belonged to the old dispensa- 
tion, and were given to control the animalism of the Jews. In the 
new dispensation, the ten were reduced to, or summed up in, two, 
because the intellects of succeeding generations would be suffi- 
ciently developed to comprehend and take in their whole meaning. 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 257 

But to the uncultivated mind of the ancient Jew, it would not have 
been sufficient to say, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and 
whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you do ye even so 
unto them." This one commandment must needs be divided into 
six. Neither would he have comprehended the entire meaning of 
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul 
and strength." So that must also be stated in four parts, in order 
to impress his weak intellectual and moral nature, as well as his 
strong, excessive selfish and animal propensities. 

The growth of the race is like the growth of a person from 
childhood up to manhood. The first organs a child makes use of 
are those at the base of the brain — the propensities, such as appe- 
tite, acquisitiveness, the desire to take or receive whatever it likes 
or fancies ; also, destructiveness or combativeness, as shown in 
its temper. Then comes the exercise of the perceptive or ob- 
serving faculties; then the memory; next will be the exercise of 
the moral and selfish sentiments, such as ideality, approbativeness, 
self-esteem, imitation, etc.; and finally all the other faculties are 
brought into action, according to education and circumstances. 
So, in the beginning or infancy of the race, the propensities which 
arose from the organs at the base of the brain first became active; 
and, as the world grew in years, man grew in his intellectual and 
moral nature, and is continually developing into a higher type 
of manhood. Men were physical giants and long-lived at first, 
showing the excess of the physical over the mental nature. 
Now men are smaller in stature and live but a few years, showing 
the excess of mind over body. Therefore the religion of the Jews, 
with burnt offerings, etc., would be as much out of harmony and 
adaptation to us as our religion — the New Testament teachings — 
would have been to them. The doctrines of the New Testament, 
or, rather, the requirements of the two commandments already 
mentioned in this chapter, are about as far ahead of the present 
Christian life as the Christian religion is ahead of the Jewish; that is, 
Christians of to-day fall far short of what the present dispensation 
requires. Nevertheless, the religion of to-day is a step higher and 
superior to the Jewish dispensation, but not as exalted and pure as. 
it will be in generations to come. The spiritualization of man is 
slower in process of development than his intellectual culture,, 
because the intellectual faculties are used far more than the relig- 



258 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

ious; and if it has required nearly six thousand years to bring 
man up to his present intellectual standard, it is evident it will 
require ages yet to bring man into the full capacity of his religious 
nature. The iron age of barbarism which said, "An eye for an eye, 
and a tooth for a tooth," is a thing of the past, or belonging only 
to a people partially civilized. We are living in what may be 
termed the silver age, taking for our motto, "Good for good." The 
golden age is yet to come. Thus we are about half way between 
two opposite rules — the iron, which says: Return injury for injury, 
avenge yourself; and the golden, which commands one to return 
good for evil, and leave vengeance to the Lord. Frequently we 
see men measuring their conduct by the iron rule, sometimes ren- 
dering themselves criminals, and amenable to the laws of the land. 
Occasionally we hear of persons ascending to, and practicing, the 
golden rule — doing good for evil; but such acts are rare and gen- 
erally arise from a religious conviction of their duty to do so, rather 
than a spontaneous desire springing up in their hearts. 

Man is a progressive being, and from his creation (for he was 
created a man, not a gorilla — and that class of scientists who think 
they resemble or have ascended from monkeys, are welcome to 
claim the relationship, but I beg to be excused) he had faculties 
which animals have not. There is no law in nature to develop or 
create something out of nothing. No botanist or agriculturist 
could ever cause a rose to grow on a thistle or thorn-bush, nor 
could he by any process of cross-breeding, get even a mule out of 
an orang-outang, much less a human being. I believe that, by 
culture, any faculty or species may be developed to a higher state 
of perfection, but never an entire change in its identity and form. 
Consequently, from the beginning, man has been growing up from 
animalism and materialism into his present intellectual and par- 
tially moral condition. But the human race is only part way on 
their earthly journey. Men are not yet perfect in their moral 
character, to say nothing about the religious or spiritual. (I use 
the term spirituality, in this chapter, to signify that part of the soul 
which is highest, purest and most godlike in its nature.) The 
morality of the present day is mostly a kind of sentimental moral- 
ity; it does not reach the thoughts and intents of the heart — a 
morality that is associated with the customs and fashions of the 
times, put on for appearance and for the occasion. 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 259 

For my present purpose, I will divide the brain into three divi- 
sions. In the first or lower portion of the brain are located the 
animal organs; in the second and middle, the intellectual and 
moral organs; and in the third and upper portion, the religious 
and spiritual organs. We have got about half way up in our brain 
and soul life, and it remains for future generations to reach the 
upper story, and attain unto the full development of man's highest 
nature. We are something like a dying person, who, though still 
in this life and world, is far enough advanced in the stages of death 
to catch glimpses of the spirit life and world ; so with the present 
generation. They are yet under the power and influence of the 
animal propensities more than any other class of faculties; but far 
enough advanced in intellectual culture and moral and religious 
development to have a foretaste of what man may, and undoubt- 
edly will, be in the course of time. 

But men will never live in the full enjoyment of their spiritual 
nature till the organic quality is far superior to what it is at present. 
The majority of people are deficient in this respect; hence they 
are but little above the brute creation in this particular. So it 
would be useless or foolish to look for a high order of Christian 
character in nine-tenths or more of even the civilized and Christian 
portion of the race. When men become perfect in their mental 
and physical organization, we may look for perfect examples of 
religious character— but not before. The world expects and exacts 
too much from Christians. It forgets that they have born in them 
more of the animal and sensual propensities than they have of the 
religious nature; hence their besetting sins are strong, and their 
power to resist weak. It cannot be expected that the religion of 
Christ will revolutionize man's entire nature and character in one 
generation; but it will gradually improve each generation, and so 
the leavening influence will go on for ages, till the whole nature of 
man has been thoroughly leavened, and transformed and restored 
to the image of God. A farmer who purchases a hundred acres of 
rough, untilled land, does not expect to have it thoroughly culti- 
vated in a year or two; it will take many years to do it. Just so 
in the culture and sanctification of man's moral, intellectual and 
spiritual nature. 

The excess of the selfish propensities is what leads people into 
sin; and we never can be angelic in character till we grow into an 



260 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

angelic condition of mind and heart. Therefore, when men are 
properly developed in their physical, mental and spiritual nature, 
they will be able to live perfect lives — not before. (I do not mean 
absolute perfection, which belongs only to the Deity; but perfect 
in the ordinary human acceptation of the term.) This state of per- 
fection can only be attained by hereditary influence, education and 
proper culture of the whole man, from the sole of his foot to the 
soul of his head. (For I believe the seat of the soul to be in the 
brain.) The human race has been living a sort of caterpillar life. 
By and by they will emerge from the larval state of animalism into 
a complete and glorious life. 

The modern church has gained a popular and powerful influence 
in the world, partly on account of the steady growth of Christianity, 
through the general prevalence of the Bible, and partly because 
it is badly contaminated with the spirit of the world, which makes 
it popular with a certain class, who never would become communi- 
cants of a church otherwise. And this mixture of good and evil in 
the church has probably done more to retard the progress of 
Christianity than all external influences. 

With good will toward the church, and a desire to call the atten- 
tion of its members to the nature of their besetting sins, I wish, 
from a phrenological standpoint, to notice three evils connected 
with church organizations. The first is wealth. There are three 
kinds of wealth embodied in churches — money, property and mem- 
bership; and they are too prone to go courting after one or all of 
these accessories. If there is an unconverted rich man belonging 
to any congregation, there are ten times as many prayers offered 
for, and members interested in, his conversion than there would be 
for any poor man; though a poor person (I mean one in medium 
circumstances — not poverty-stricken) will generally do far more for 
the spiritual welfare of a church than a rich man will — showing 
that it is a man's money they are after more than the man himself. 
It is true, Christians should be anxious for the conversion of all 
men, whether rich or poor; true that the church needs money to 
pay current expenses, and that rich men can be of great assistance 
financially, if not otherwise, to any organization they unite with. 
So far, so good. But let us look at the work and influence of rich 
men in the church as compared with that of other members. Some 
of them are like a sponge filled with water; you get nothing out of 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 261 

them except by squeezing, and the more you squeeze the drier 
they become, till you get nothing. They will not give as much as 
many members less able than they are. They are something like 
the old lady in average circumstances, who always gave according 
to her means, but frequently made the assertion that if she was 
only rich how much she would give to the cause. Finally she had 
a fortune left her, and she became rich and stingy at the same time, 
and gave less than she did before. Generosity does not always 
accompany wealth. He who is most willing to give is the one who 
most feels the want of it. But granting that the most of rich men 
do give large sums of money for church and educational pur- 
poses, what else do they do, or what do they expect in return ? 
They do little or nothing in the way of active Christian labor, 
which is the very work on which the life, prosperity and existence 
of the church depends. For a church without works is dead, spirit- 
ually, and when dead spiritually, its physical death is only a matter 
of time. So that, as far as the vitality of the church is concerned, 
most rich men are of very little use. There may be one here and 
there who labors zealously and gives liberally; for, in fact, when 
they are active workers, they are more free in the use of their 
money than others. But generally the wealthy members are the 
ones who are put into office, and allowed to regulate and control 
the affairs of the church. This is what they expect and receive 
for their money. They are officious in conduct; all others are 
expected to submit to their authority. The most saintly and soul- 
saving members must bow to their authority or be snubbed; no 
project or plan can be carried out without being first submitted to 
them for approval. Just think, the most pious and active members 
dare not take a step or do a thing, out of the ordinary course, with- 
out the sanction of these mammon professors; for the piety of 
most of them is rather shallow. The evil here to be remedied is 
not in the money or in the men who have it; but in the church, 
as a body, placing capital ahead of piety. The devout working 
members of the church should have the controlling power, because 
they are the ones most loyally interested in the church, and know 
best what is needed, and how to accomplish whatever they under- 
take. It is much to be regretted that churches are not more cau- 
tious how they receive and make use of men of wealth, when Christ, 
their great teacher, so explicitly stated how hard it is for a rich 



262 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

man to enter the kingdom of heaven — how hard it is for one to 
possess money without idolizing it more than his Maker. As a 
rule, it is through the strong love of money that men attain it; 
sometimes honestly, sometimes not. I remember a minister, when 
alluding to this in one of his sermons, stating that the world did 
not stop to ask a man how he got his money; the only question 
was, Have you got it? And he might have added, neither does the 
church. But, then, it would never do for a minister to utter such a 
statement from the pulpit; it would hit some of the wealthy mem- 
bers right on the head, and they would in time freeze or starve him 
out. Still the churches need just such ministers, with sufficient 
moral courage not to shun declaring the whole truth, no matter 
who the cap fits. I have seen men filling the position of treasurer 
for churches into whose faces I could never look without immedi- 
ately and intuitively associating them with the character of Judas 
Iscariot, because they evidently had no interest in Christ or his 
church beyond dollars and cents. Judas had large acquisitiveness, 
which became abnormal, and rendered him mean and stingy in his 
disposition. He did nothing of a criminal nature, but simply loved 
money more than he did his Lord and Master. He probably had 
no idea that Christ would be put to death at the time he betrayed 
him; for, if he had designed the death of Christ, he would not have 
gone and killed himself afterward through remorse. There are 
plenty of men in the world at the present day, and unfortunately 
some of them in the church, who would sell anything or any per- 
son, even their own souls, for thirty pieces of silver, or less; and 
they are the kind of people who make Christianity and Christians 
objects of hatred to the unconverted. And if there is any indi- 
vidual who ought to be peremptorily expelled from the church, it 
is he who has proved himself to be an unprincipled miser, because 
neither the word of God will ever take root, nor the love of Christ 
dwell, in such a soul. One great weakness in the modern church 
is, that they have yielded too much to the influence of wealth, and 
have consequently imbibed so much of a commercial spirit that 
churches are managed and conducted too much on business princi- 
ples; so that the church of to-day has become about as much a 
money institution as it is a soul-saving one, forgetting or overlook- 
ing the injunction of Christ, " Ye can not serve God and Mammon." 
Ministers often preach this to the world, and strongly impress upon 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. . 263 

the unconverted the evils and vanity of wealth, and of how little 
use it is to them; but let one of the wealthy sinners be converted 
•and join the church, and he will soon hear a sermon on another 
text, such as " The Lord loveth a cheerful giver," in which the 
same preacher will earnestly and eloquently set forth the necessity 
of Christian benevolence, and if he will only give liberally his piety 
will never be very closely scrutinized, nor will it make much differ- 
ence how he made, or is making, his money. That is, he will never 
be disciplined for doing things not exactly honest in business 
transactions, even though they may be apparent to the world at 
large. The Bible does not state that the Lord is in love with the 
amount one gives, but rather the cheerful spirit and will with which 
he gives it; for, if he gives willingly and cheerfully, he will always 
give liberally — that is, in proportion to his means. The clergy 
lay particular stress upon liberality in giving, as though that were 
the backbone of Christianity. As a rule, ministers are something 
like women — they have little idea how and where the money is 
coming from; they, at least, frequently talk as though they were of 
the opinion that all business men have to do to get money is to go 
out, as the children of Israel did for their manna, and gather it in. 
I do not consider ministers a covetous or extravagant class of men; 
nevertheless, they are influenced by far too much in the offer of 
large salaries by churches that are more ambitious than wise in 
their plan of selecting and calling pastors; so that, nowadays, 
ministers act on the worldly policy, " no pay, no preach"; and the 
question of how much salary they are going to have has much to 
do in regard to their acceptance of a call. Such a thought may not 
be actually expressed or acknowledged, but it is prominent in their 
minds all the same, for ministers have propensities just like other 
men, and some of them love money better than they do souls or 
preaching. The man whom God has called to preach the gospel 
will preach whether his income be large or small, for he will feel 
"Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel"; but the charlatan 
will shift about in search of better pay, or take off his uniform, and 
drop out of the ranks entirely. 

Secondly, I need scarcely remark that some churches turn them- 
selves into real estate agents and speculate in property. I hardly 
think Christ instituted the church to do that kind of business. 
Some will erect elaborate buildings, and pay off part of the debt by 



264 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

renting it out for concerts, private theatricals, or almost any kind 
of entertainment; thus demoralizing the name and use of a church. 
They are somewhat like the speculating Jews whom Christ whipped 
out of the temple for turning his Father's house into a place of 
merchandise and a den of thieves. 

The acquisition of members makes the third division in church 
wealth. In one sense, members cannot be too anxious to see addi- 
tions to the church; and while many are quite indifferent on that 
point, yet, as a rule, churches are eager to add to their numbers; 
although their zeal in that direction often excels their prudence. 
Each convert or applicant is looked upon as an additional power 
and wealth to the church; hence the genuineness of his conver- 
sion is not so rigidly examined as it ought to be, especially if he is 
wealthy. But if a poor man or woman, who has been a hard case, 
seeks admission, they will be questioned rather lively, and perhaps 
be allowed to wait a few months to see if they are likely to remain 
faithful. It is the former class whose motives, principles, desires 
and affections need the closest investigation. There is a great need 
of a different manner or system of catechising inquirers and appli- 
cants, especially the sentimental class, and those who enter the 
church in a religious excitement produced by forced or periodical 
movements; for there are counterfeit revivals, just the same as 
there is counterfeit money. A genuine revival springs into exist- 
ence and develops itself through the direct influence of the Holy 
Spirit, acting upon the minds and hearts of the people; though the 
impulse may be given by and through some active, earnest, ener- 
getic man, whose heart is red-hot, and ready to set on fire every 
other heart that comes in contact with it. A spurious or counter- 
feit revival is one where the pastor and deacons meet in the study, 
and decide by vote to hold revival meetings, when neither the pas- 
tor, nor his deacons, nor perhaps a single member in the church has 
a heart quickened with a revival spirit sufficient to kindle the flame 
in others. Some other church or city has perhaps just had a revi- 
val, or it may be they had one themselves the previous year, and 
so conclude they might as well have one annually; hence desperate 
efforts are made to get up an excitement. The organ of human 
nature is brought into full play, and all kinds of devices are resorted 
to to work upon the feelings of the people and bring about a so- 
called revival, and, after trying about three months, they find out 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 265 

they cannot succeed. And should any one have the moral cour- 
age to rise in one of their meetings, and tell those zealots the 
time was not favorable, or the people not in a condition of 
mind for a revival, he would be considered a fit subject to hold a 
prayer-meeting over. It is astonishing what efforts are made in 
these forced revivals to awaken religious enthusiasm. Men are 
considered unfaithful if they do not throw aside everything, and 
attend prayer-meeting every evening, if not in the daytime. Relig- 
ious teachers and revival leaders make one serious mistake, which 
phrenology will point out, namely: religious excitement — worship, 
adoration, prayer, etc. — springs from the faculty of veneration, but 
the true revival spirit does not arise from that. Spirituality is the 
faculty that leads the sinner to Christ — is that which gives him 
faith, that which creates a genuine interest, that which enables him 
to see and discern the truth, brings him into sympathy and union 
with Christ and his gospel, and makes him a saved person. There 
is no outburst of excitement to spirituality; that springs from ven- 
eration, combined with an emotional, excitable temperament. 
Faith is quiet, but powerful in its operations. I do not say men are 
not converted under religious excitement; they are, because per- 
sons having such a temperament as I have just described could not 
help being emotional; it is part of their nature; but I do say it is by 
no means a proof of their conversion, because if their faith is not 
alive and active, their excitement will all be in vain, which is often 
the case in revivals. If there is no faith, there is nothing to enable 
them to hold on, and when the excitement is over, their religion is 
over. Faith, or spirituality, is the connecting link between man and 
his Maker; and if that faculty has never been brought into proper 
action he may sing and pray until he is hoarse and gray-headed and 
still remain unconverted; for "without faith it is impossible to please 
God," and the Bible declares this to be the gift of God; in other 
words, the organ or faculty of spirituality is first awakened to its 
highest legitimate function by and through the influence of the 
Holy Spirit. And I believe this to be the only faculty in man's soul 
that Divinity does influence or act upon in a direct manner. All the 
others are acted upon by the natural laws of man's own organism* 
An enthusiastic religious meeting will act upon and stir up venera- 
tion, and all other religious organs, but not spirituality, unless it has 
been first awakened by a higher power. Through veneration we 



266 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

reverence, adore and worship God; this inclines a person to elevate 
the head in the attitude of prayer; but spirituality is really the 
faculty that carries one's prayers to the Throne of Grace, and 
brings the answer in return. Hence some men live by faith and 
prayer, like George Muller. But no matter how large a man's ven- 
eration is, if his spirituality is deficient, his prayers will never 
amount to much; because he will be too skeptical to make any im- 
pression or influence on the Divine will: neither will he have 
enough confidence in God, or his own petition, to expect an answer 
to his prayer. Hence answers to prayer come not merely through 
the petition of itself, but through strong faith mingled with it. In 
fact, the action of veneration without spirituality is like using words 
without any meaning. 

Wealth is accumulated through man's selfishness, which springs 
from the activity of the selfish propensities, and these organs are 
directly opposite, in their nature, to the religious organs. This is 
why it is so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. 
The propensities tend to draw the mind and soul away from any- 
thing spiritual, and deal only with things that are animal and ma- 
terial. Were it not for the selfish propensities, however, man would 
fail to make the required effort to provide for the wants of the body 
and for the sustenance and protection of his family. But the con- 
stant activity of these organs has rendered them abnormal; hence 
they hold the balance of power, and the human mind and heart are 
more under their influence and control than any other set of organs. 
On the other hand, the religious organs have not been active 
enough to balance the power of the propensities; hence men have 
gradually yielded to the spirit of selfishness and worldly gain till 
their whole soul has become engrossed with an unholy and unrea- 
sonable desire to make money and accumulate property of some 
kind. And what is true of individuals is true of communities, 
nations and church organizations; therefore, whenever a church, or 
the majority of its leading members, have the animal propensities 
most strongly developed, and become absorbed in commercial 
transactions, real-estate and board-of-trade speculations, you will 
be sure to find more of the worldly and business disposition in them 
than true Christian life and character. 

Another great evil I wish to notice, as connected with the 
church, and partly growing out of those already mentioned, is 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 267 

fashion. It would be difficult — yea, an impossibility — for the most 
minute critical observer to distinguish the difference, in this respect, 
between a church member and a worldling. I do not consider the 
Bible requires Christians to dress like nuns, or in any style that is 
contrary to taste and the custom of the age; but there is a medium 
in all things, and one is liable to be just as erroneous and ridiculous 
in going to the one extreme as the other. Nowadays there is a 
strong and general tendency to go to the extreme of fashion, and 
that without any conscientious scruples. I propose, therefore, to 
show, from a phrenological as well as a Christian standpoint, that 
this is not only wrong and unchristianlike, but that the individuals 
who do so are a worthless class, a positive injury to the church, and 
no good to the world, except to spend money and make certain 
kinds of trade lively. The organs of fashion are approbativeness 
and ideality — the former belonging to the selfish sentiments, and 
the latter to the moral. And although these organs are a step 
higher in order and importance than the propensities, yet they do 
not belong to the religious group. They occupy a middle place 
between the lower and higher class of faculties; therefore-the fash- 
ionable organs will work with either the upper or lower class. If 
the religious organs are the stronger, they control the action of the 
fashionable organs; but if the propensities are the stronger, then 
approbativeness and ideality work in connection with them, and 
the spirit of fashion and selfishness reigns supreme. Piety, in that 
kind of organization, may restrain and modify, but never thoroughly 
control, the character. There are other faculties, beside the two 
already mentioned, that help to impart a strong desire to be fash- 
ionable, namely: imitation combined with the perceptives. What 
one person sees in another that he admires, he wants to imitate, 
and so be like others in that respect. 

Those who constantly dress in fine clothes, and have their mind 
set on it, create in themselves a feeling of vanity, which in time 
ripens into contempt, or at least disregard, for those who are not 
equally arrayed. They have no inclination to labor, and feel too 
nice for anything or anybody. Fashionable people may not delib- 
erately make up their minds to feel and act in that way, but the 
feeling forces itself upon them in spite of their better judgment; 
because it is the nature of approbativeness and ideality, when ex- 
cited by objects of beauty and display, to produce a frame of mind 



268 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

which will shun or oppose everything not in harmony with it. 
Those who have not closely studied the effect that these faculties 
produce upon the character, when misdirected, do not know how 
far the mind and heart is drawn away by them from the pure and 
simple religion which Christ, established. Fashion, in the church, 
counteracts the influence of the gospel, and keeps away the very 
class it is designed to reach — namely, the poor. They do not, and 
will not, go to a high-toned place of worship, where they are coolly 
put into a back seat and made to feel that their room is better than 
their company. Then, when the sermon is over, who, among the 
richly-attired members, ever thinks of taking them by the hand in 
a cordial, Christian-like manner? Why, it would soil their gloves 
to do such a thing. Speaking of gloves, reminds me of the gross 
irreverence and impropriety of many women who partake of the 
Lord's supper with their hands covered. Common etiquette would 
at least suggest the propriety of taking one off, even if they have 
no sincere love for Christ or respect for his ordinance. I remember 
attending a prayer meeting on one occasion, when a poorly-dressed 
young man arose in the meeting, and expressed an earnest desire 
to become a Christian. At the close of the meeting, it is customary 
for the pastor, or one of the deacons, or the church missionary, if 
they have any, to look after such cases; but not a soul conversed 
with him. If he had been well-dressed, and presented the appear- 
ance of a man in good circumstances, there would have been several 
persons particularly interested in his soul's salvation. But, perhaps, 
the worst and greatest difficulty in this matter is to make the mem- 
bers believe that they are slaves to fashion. It is something like 
trying to convince an egotistical man that he is conceited; he can- 
not perceive that he is so, simply because he cannot compare his 
own feelings with those of a humble person. So it is with fashion- 
able people and churches. They can compare dress certainly; but 
the evil does not consist in dress alone; it is the feeling that 
accompanies it. This is where they err, and fail to realize that 
they are the victims of dress and fashion. And when I speak of 
dress, I include jewelry and all external ornaments. This feeling, 
engendered by dress that makes one member indirectly say to 
another, "I am better than you; remember your place and posi- 
tion," not only pervades all churches more or less, but erects a 
barrier more annoying and sinful in its effects than caste among 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 200, 

the Brahmans. Christian caste has got to that pitch that it is get- 
ting to be fashionable nowadays to be 3 member of a large and 
influential church. Hence there is considerable said and done, and 
palmed off upon the world as Christianity, that is nothing but out- 
side parade and show — a mere sham, a thing having a name with- 
out reality; for where there is much show there is generally little 
substance, and where the reality and genuine thing is possessed 
there is less pretension and imitation. The highest type of piety 
is found among the humble, unpretentious class — those who do 
not make money, property or business the chief aim of life, but 
simply the helping means to attain the grand object of life. The 
associates of Christ were from this class. He did not seek the 
society of the wealthy, nor did he stoop, as many of his professed 
followers, do to court their favors and approbation. John the Bap- 
tist lived on locusts and wild honey, and wore a garment made of 
camel's hair; hence both food and raiment were indicative of his 
poor condition; for, not only were locusts and wild honey the 
cheapest kind of food, but goods made from camel's hair were like- 
wise cheap, strong, and coarser than our horse blankets. It was, 
therefore, the most serviceable for poor people. This is the reason 
John the Baptist wore it, and not (as the superintendent of a Sun- 
day-school once told the children) to keep him from getting wet. 
Paul preached and labored at the same time, that he might not be 
under obligations to any man. What would some of our big-feel- 
ing, six-or-eight-thousand-dollars-per-year clergy think or do if 
they had to live in a similar or proportionate manner ? They would 
preach their farewell sermon the next Sabbath, and retire from the 
ministry. There are plenty of ministers who live more like kings 
than the humble followers of Christ, while many of their flock hard- 
ly know how to pay their expenses; still, they are expected to give 
whenever these fat, pious dignitaries make a call for money. But 
in country places, however, it is generally the poor preacher who 
has to suffer, scarcely getting enough to keep body and soul to- 
gether and have his family appear respectable. It is bad enough 
to have fashion in the pew, but when it gets into the pulpit, it is 
enough to make the moon blush and the sun to vail its glory. 
Whenever you see wealth and fashion in a church rest assured that 
piety and humility are at a discount. The two compounds cannot 
dwell in one place, so that when one steps in, the other steps out. 



270 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

Whenever I see fine carriages drive up to the door of a place of 
worship, and observe that most of the attendants are composed of 
a class who never go to any place that is not popular and fashion- 
able, that is all I want to know concerning the church and the 
preacher, I pity them both; for, though rich externally, they are 
very poor internally. They cannot say, " Mercy and truth have 
met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other." 
They have neither mercy nor affinity for those who do not put on 
as many airs as they do. The truth is not in them; they are stran- 
gers and foreigners to that precious article; righteousness cannot 
touch them, they have too much of their own; peace will not dwell 
with pride and vanity. Neither can it be said of them, "Then they 
that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and a book of re- 
membrance was written." They fear the truth more than God; 
they seldom speak to each other, except to pass the compliments 
of the day or season, or refer to some other woman's hat or dress. 
But there will be a book of remembrance concerning them — one 
they will not enjoy reading quite as well as some others they have 
read to kill time. Then their jewels will not be the kind the Lord 
delights in, neither will their hearts bear enough of the image of 
their Maker to become diamonds in his crown. No reserved seats 
for them in heaven, while others are kept waiting till they are com- 
fortably seated in the choicest location; if they get a seat at all, or 
even standing room, in that happy place, they may think them- 
selves well off, and if there is such a thing as distinction of place in 
Heaven, it will be for those who have entered the kingdom through 
great tribulation. The diamond, which, in its native state, is rough 
and hard, may be polished into a brilliant jewel, fit to adorn the 
crown of a king; but the butterfly or beautiful flower never can be 
changed into anything else; neither can flowery, butterfly people be 
changed into jewels and stars of the first magnitude. 

Still another evil in the church, I wish to notice, relates to dis- 
position. This arises from selfishness in the heart. The selfish 
propensities and the affections, and the kind of disposition one has, 
will depend on the relation which these two (heart and selfishness) 
bear to each other. If selfishness is most predominant, the dispo- 
sition will be mean; but if the heart is predominant, the disposition 
will be noble, generous and whole-souled. Here lies the weakest 
point in Christian character. They allow the gospel to influence 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 271 

any other part of their character but selfishness; and this is the 
hardest thing the gospel and grace of God has to conquer. Does 
the Bible declare the heart to be desperately wicked and deceitful 
above all things? So it also says, " With the heart man believeth 
unto righteousness," when really the heart does nothing of the kind. 
It is not the office of the heart to believe, but to love; and the 
phrase quoted means that belief, accompanied and supported by 
the ardor of the affections, or heart, secures and brings salvation. 
For the present, then, I shall use the term heart in a more limited 
sense than it is used in the Scriptures; but I will define "heart" 
more definitely when I come to speak of conversion. Worldly sel- 
fishness arises principally from the organ of acquisitiveness; but in 
a general and more comprehensive sense, it springs from all the or- 
gans that care for and minister to man's bodily wants. In a limited 
sense, heart means affections; but more generally, it includes affec- 
tions and propensities — all those organs from which physical de- 
sires and appetites originate. So that, for present consideration, I 
am really separating the heart, calling one part the affections, the 
other selfishness. The latter is that element in Christian character 
which is the least brought into subjection to the will and heart of 
God. It is this that particularly requires sanctification to bring it 
into subjection. It is this that St. Paul alludes to when he says, 
"When I would do good, evil is present with me, and I find in my 
members a continual warring against the law of my mind"; as if he 
had said, my propensities are warring against my moral nature. 
All kinds of meanness which people daily practice is prompted by 
man's selfish nature; and, with the exception of the natural hatred 
that exists in the unconverted heart towards Christianity, nothing 
makes religion and its professors appear so objectionable and con- 
temptible as the littleness of soul they so often manifest in their 
social and business relations, and a mean, stingy Christian is a great 
injury to the church, for the influence of his life and character will 
only make skeptics and infidels, not Christians. The pastor of a 
mission church in New York City excluded nine members because 
they did not give. He said he had hope of reforming drunkards, 
thieves, etc., but he thought a man with a mean soul was past re- 
demption. He also screwed the doors of his church pews back so 
they could not be shut. Soon afterwards a well-dressed member 
came to the church service and having seated herself, tried to shut 



272 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

the door so as to be exclusive, but could not. Meeting the pastor a 
few days afterwards she told him she should not come again unless 
she could close the pew door. " Then," said he, " Sister, you must stay 
away, for the pew door will remain fastened open." To be dishonest, 
unkind, uncharitable, unsocial, or to commit any act or utter any 
statement the world considers beneath the dignity of the true man, 
makes the name Christian a by-word and a stumbling-block. But 
the meanness of Christians is just as much realized, and as much 
seen, among themselves as it is to the outside world. In fact, many 
years of close observation of church members and their actions, 
warrants me in the assertion that it is more apparent in their own 
church circle than anywhere else; because there are more and bet- 
ter opportunities afforded for its exhibition. They are more fa- 
miliar and frequent in their intercourse with each other than they 
are with any other class of people. There are divisions, cliques, 
party strife and jealousies, arising from the difference in intellectual 
culture, wealth, fashion, social position, active piety, etc. These 
diversities tend to produce hard-feeling, discontent, envy, rivalry, 
and excite to active manifestation every point in their character 
that is mean and detestable. Hence it is not uncommon to find a 
church that has for years been transformed into a mere quarrelsome 
debating society; and their disputes become so hot and general 
that every business meeting of the church is looked forward to as 
a sort of matinee, and if there was not trouble somewhere in the 
camp, some of them would go home disappointed. If Brother A. 
makes a proposition, Brother B. is sure to oppose it, just because 
Brother A. made it, no matter whether it accords with his views or 
not. If one party undertakes to do anything under the head of 
church enterprise, or express their views on the necessity of a 
change of pastorship, that is a sure signal for the other party to de- 
clare war and open fire, and they generally have a long, bitter and 
lively campaign, with no prospects of peace till the troublesome 
party has either seceded from the church, or been put in their little 
beds underneath the ground. As to how many additions, by con- 
version or letter, can take place in such a hot-bed of animosity as 
that, I leave the reader to imagine. Nevertheless they hold their 
weekly prayer-meetings, and the warriors will specially and vigor- 
ously pray for the salvation of souls and more love for one another 
(of course, the Lord always hears such prayers, and generally an- 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 273 

swers them by taking no notice of them). Their business matinee 
meetings are always opened by prayer — it makes the performance 
go off so much better, and they can act and fight each other with 
more energy when they imagine the blessing of the Lord is resting 
on their conceited, headstrong efforts. Then, it is generally the 
case, when such trouble occurs in a church where many of the mem- 
bers come in from the country, that the performance commences 
immediately after the weekly prayer-meeting, so that whatever 
good might have been done in, or derived from, the prayer-meet- 
ing is more than neutralized in the business meeting. In fact, the 
prayer-meeting has only served as the introduction to wake them 
up, and get them in talking humor. Who can solve the problem as 
to how much of the gospel is retarded, the spirituality of the church 
demoralized, the piety of individual members decreased, and the 
number of actual workers lessened, by the spirit of contention so 
prevalent in the Christian church ? I remember a lady I once met 
who had left one church and joined another different in doctrine 
and form of worship, because she said the former church was so 
quarrelsome, and as far as she could see, likely to be. There is 
likewise much meanness shown by Christians in their dealings one 
with the other. For one church member to do business with an- 
other is something like a man dealing with his own relations and 
intimate friends; they always expect things at about half price, and 
then think they are getting cheated, or else they want a good many 
favors shown and considerable fussing over; and if they cannot have 
it, the individual who has to deal with them may set them down as 
his business, if not social, enemies for the remainder of his or their 
natural life. Then there is a good deal of cheek, as well as mean- 
ness, shown by the church as a body toward an individual member. 
They expect him to give, not only a good share of his money, time, 
talent and influence, but, if he is engaged in any kind of business 
:hat is required in furnishing, building or repairing the place of 
worship, he is expected to do it for less than cost price. If he does 
so, all right; the minister and elders will smile on him and fuss over 
him like a charming young widow over a rich bachelor; but if he 
does not, then he may look for cross-eyed glances in the future, 
and may as well make up his mind to go West or console himself 
by remembering that all Christians are " strangers and pilgrims 
while here on earth." Sad thought, but too true — strangers to 



274 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

each other as much if not more than they are to the world ! And 
this leads me to notice the peculiar and bad disposition which 
Christians manifest in their general conduct toward their own 
church brethren and sisters. It is not my intention in this chapter, 
to eulogize the church; enough of that has been done already, by 
far too much for its own good. My object is to speak plainly and 
kindly in regard to some of the errors and inconsistencies that need 
to be exposed and eradicated from the church. And the Christian 
who is loyal to Christ and his kingdom, and aiming toward perfec- 
tion of character in himself, will be, or certainly ought to be, just 
as anxious to know what his or her faults are as well as what their 
good qualities are. Indeed, it is absolutely essential for one to 
know his weak points, but not really necessary to know the strong 
ones, in order to perfect character. The young man who wants to 
learn a trade would make rather slow headway if his master did 
nothing but praise everything he did or every article he made. To 
become a good mechanic he must learn his faults, be severely crit- 
icised and corrected in everything he does — must be shown why 
and where it is wrong, and how to improve. It is so in regard to 
Christian character. Therefore, whenever a church is constantly 
blowing the trumpet of self-praise, telling what a glorious work 
they have done, how much money they have given for various pur- 
poses, how many poor have been aided, and how many souls have 
been saved, that church is in a splendid condition for Satan to get 
hold of, and give it a lively shaking up. And the Lord generally 
allows him to do it, just as he did in the case of Peter. That earnest, 
zealous, impetuous and conceited disciple had been blowing his 
trumpet a little too loud — its vibrations were rather too strong on 
the auditory nerves of his Master; so he told Peter that Satan de- 
sired to have him, that he might sift him as wheat. What was the 
consolation he received ? Was it that Satan should not have the 
privilege of giving him the good sifting he so much needed for his 
own good ? — oh, no; he was simply told that he had been prayed 
for, so that his faith should not fail. Thus Christ allowed Satan to 
show this strong-minded, self-important disciple how weak and lit- 
tle he was by denying his Lord and Master at a time when he most 
needed his loyalty. There are a great many churches and individ- 
ual members who need just such a shaking and sifting as Peter got, 
in order to humiliate them and bring them to their right senses. 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 275 

Let the chaff be taken out of the wheat; then the character will 
shine forth brighter and purer. 

The relation of church members to each other has been com- 
pared to that of a family; but, strange to say, there are plenty of 
members in churches who never speak to each other — not because 
there is any hard feeling between them, nor through ignorance of 
their being Christians and members of the same church, but be- 
cause they have never become acquainted through an introduction. 
What, in the name of common sense, has the worldly form of 
introduction got to do with the church? If the church decides 
that an individual is fit to be adopted into the family, surely that 
is. all the introduction that is required as far as the other members 
are concerned. And if those who unite with the church feel that 
they cannot speak to others without a formal introduction, or be- 
cause they do not belong to the same clique or grade of society 
that they do, then they have no business in the church. Christ 
did not require any introduction to the woman of Samaria, nor did 
she to him; neither do we learn that either of them were injured 
by their informal social intercourse. Thus is Christ the Christian's 
example. He thought it no harm, but rather expedient, to enter 
into free conversation with a woman not of his fold — an outcast 
from Jewish society, and a bad character. But how much more 
ought members of the same church to be free in their conversa- 
tion with each other? Then let the abominable practice of formal 
introduction in the churches (which is injurious and unchristian) 
die out. Because, first, it kills the spirit of genuine sociability; 
secondly, it makes it very difficult and tedious for new members to 
become acquainted, especially, in large city churches — the very 
place where they most need to feel at home and have social pro- 
tection; and, thirdly, it prevents confiding friendship — one of the 
most essential things to happiness, and that which creates and 
cements love in the church, as well as in the marriage and family 
relationship. Alas! how little of it there is in either place or con- 
dition I have mentioned. It is true there are many cases of strong 
friendship and love among Christian people; but they are the ex- 
ception; the majority are not so intimate and confiding with each 
other as they are with persons outside the church. There are 
thousands of Christians who, if they had any trouble or burden 
upon their minds, on account of which they needed sympathy and 



2j6 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

counsel, would seek advice and consolation from almost any person 
except one of their own church members. The fact of the matter 
is, Christians ought to know each other, physically, mentally and 
morally, much better than they do. They ought to know each 
other's infirmities, weak and strong points of character, their be- 
setting sins, strong temptations, and whatever tends to make and 
unmake their Christian life and character. Then they could and 
would be a source of strength and support to each other, whereas 
the reverse is almost universally the case. Members try to hide 
their inconsistencies and conceal their real character from each 
other, but carelessly manifest it to those who have no love for 
Christ or his people. Members will often rise in a meeting, and 
state how unfaithful they have been — how they have not lived up 
to the standard they ought and would like to; but whoever heard 
one of them state definitely the sins they were guilty of? I do not 
say it is necessary, practical or advisable they should do so in 
every instance, especially in a public meeting where the audience 
is promiscuous; like a half-witted, sin-burdened young man who, 
in a moment of religious ardor, rose in a prayer-meeting one night 
and confessed that at some time previous he had had carnal inter- 
course with the wife of one of the deacons. The effect upon the 
deacon and the audience that that confession produced the reader 
can imagine for himself. Some Christians have unholy memories 
and cherish recollections of their past wicked acts, often relating 
them to others, instead of forgetting the past and looking forward 
to the future. They have also a lively remembrance of the faults 
of their brethren, and all church difficulties. There ought to be, 
however, meetings held exclusively for church members, just the 
same as the communion service, where they could express them- 
selves with more freedom and confidence, and where statements 
thus made should be kept within the boundaries of the church, and 
never communicated to outside persons. But why are Christians 
so shy with each other — so reserved and reticent? To say it is be- 
cause they do not understand each other, is to mention the effect, 
but not the cause; there is something back of that. What, then, 
is the cause of their misunderstanding? Why this peculiar dispo- 
sition, which arises partly from approbativeness and secretiveness, 
which produces the feeling of shame and evasiveness, and partly 
from false and deficient education of the social as well as intel- 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 277 

lectual faculties (using the word education here to mean discipline 
and culture, rather than in the sense it is generally used)? As 
previously stated, the disposition is that part of Christian character 
least influenced, controlled and modified by religion; hence it is 
easy to see why Christians are actuated so strongly by worldly 
motives and feelings, and why their social nature is not more under 
the guidance of their spiritual nature. Until this change takes 
place, we shall look in vain for general heartfelt love among Chris- 
tians. It is useless for Christians to say they love one another, 
when their actions prove the contrary. I admit there is sympa- 
thetic love; but that is not the kind I refer to. Such love as that 
is too weak and changeable to be of much value. It is too much 
like the weather, in one respect — warm and bright one day, cold 
and cloudy the next; but it never gets hot — at least, not hot 
enough to make people take off their coat of many colors, such as 
indifference, formality, caste, self-interest, pride and meanness. 
The kind of love Christians want is that which makes the heart 
burn and kindle into a flame that spreads from soul to soul — that 
which melts and consumes all ice-cold formalities — that which 
knows no evil thought, suspects and attributes no evil motive; but 
not that kind of love which idolizes any member, not even the 
pastor; not that kind of love that exists between the sexes, and 
burns a little too much sometimes; not that kind of love that takes 
young people to church and prayer-meeting for the sake of escort- 
ing or being escorted home; not that kind of love that prompts a 
person to rise and speak in a meeting once or twice only to let the 
people know there is a fresh arrival; not that kind that makes 
considerable fuss over a new convert, on his entrance into the 
church, and then takes little or no interest in him afterward. 

Nothing so clearly exhibits the spirit of the world in a church 
as meanness of disposition; for such a thing is not only worldly 
but devilish. The devil is the father of meanness as well as lies; 
and just in proportion as love molds and stamps the image of 
Christ on the Christian's heart, will meanness exhibit the likeness 
of Satan. God is love, and those who bear his image will be lova- 
ble, and will manifest it in their words and actions. There has 
been considerable discussion as to what kind of a looking being 
Satan would be if he appeared in human form. Well, let those 
who are anxious to be familiar with that gentleman's physiognomy 



278 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

select for observation the meanest, most contemptible specimen of 
humanity they can find, and they will have some idea of what the 
devil looks like — not a perfect likeness, of course, but a kind of 
family resemblance; because I do not suppose there is any human 
being that has all the elements of Satanic character within him. 
It is the character of the soul that gives us our individual likeness. 
An intelligent man will have an intelligent look; a noble-hearted 
man, a noble look; an honest man, an honest look; and a moral, 
religious man, the expression of goodness. Every faculty of the 
mind, and the peculiar manner in which it has been educated, is 
pictured in the human countenance, and forms a part of the whole 
likeness. So I cannot agree with the writer who asserts that 
Satan in human form would be the handsomest person in the 
world. Love and virtue are essential to true beauty, and the 
devil has neither^ 

What, then, are some of the mean tricks that Christians practice 
which are more Satanic in their nature and influence than Christ- 
like? One is, to sit around the communion-table, and declare (as 
they do by their presence and by partaking of the bread and wine) 
that they not only consecrate themselves in love to their Master, 
but are bound together in ties of love and friendship that are 
stronger and dearer than any earthly relationship; and then, the 
next time they meet one of their brethren or sisters, coolly pass 
them by, as though they had never seen them. There is no heav- 
enly love in such actions as that. Another species of meanness is 
that of snubbing other members of the church by thinking and 
acting as though all the brains of the church are contained and 
concentrated in their skulls — who undertake to publicly correct 
and contradict the statements and remarks of other members whose 
ideas do not accord with their own, and who generally do it in such 
a self-complacent, conceited and authoritative manner as to convey 
the impression that the other member had made a great mistake, 
and was ignorant of what he was talking about. What a large 
amount of humility and charity such persons must have! It would 
be well for such persons to remember that the ambition to rule and 
exercise authority was the means of Satan's being turned out of 
Heaven. A third species of meanness is the desire, on the part of 
some members, to treat others as objects of charity. They are 
willing to help them and speak well of them, if they will only rec- 




Parts of the Brain Mostly Exercised 
in Modern Christianity. 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 279 

ognize their superiority and feel themselves under obligations to 
do their bidding, and will vote to sustain them in office, and flatter 
them in their remarks, etc.; but the moment they assume to be on 
an equality, or attempt to rival them, their smiles turn into frowns, 
and friendship cools into a freezing atmosphere. Another kind of 
meanness is indifference to the wants and feelings of others. To 
slight, cut and wound the feelings of another member, seems to be 
a species of fun, pleasure and selfish gratification which these igno- 
rant, unprincipled and half-civilized professors evidently enjoy and 
relish. It is the consummation of all meanness, because such actions 
are generally premeditated, and probably do more to kill the ardor 
and weaken the piety of young members and converts than all other 
influences put together. It is the most detestable, alienating, strife- 
stirring, unchristian trait of character one can possess, and beneath 
the dignity of a man or woman of the world, much less of Christians, 
who are supposed to be above all such little tricks — knowing each 
other in love and tenderness. In this respect, persons show what 
they are by nature, and what they are not by grace — that is, they 
show that their hearts have never been properly cultivated by the 
sanctifying, molding and softening influence of Divine love and 
grace; for the heart needs culture just as much as the intellect. 
One may have the intellectual capacity of a Franklin, a Webster or 
a Shakespeare, and if not properly educated and disciplined to think, 
of what use would it be? So one may be large-hearted, but heart- 
size, or power, is of no use for good, if its natural impulses are not 
trained to act, feel and work in the right direction. Here lies the 
greatest difficulty in the Christians of to-day; their hearts are not 
tuned to the right key — the ring of true metal is not in them. 
You can tell what kind of a heart a person has (I mean the depth 
and tone of it, and not the quality, as to whether good or evil) by 
the kind and style of music he likes. They who are captivated by 
light, airy, lively music, whether vocal or instrumental (such as 
dancing music, or any kind specially adapted to a violin or piano), 
generally lack depth, strength, intensity and solemnity of heart; 
while those who like and are carried away by such music as the 
lofty, soul-thrilling, heart-inspiring and solemn strains that proceed 
from the church organ and are associated with sacred music, in 
general, will have a heart capable of loving, feeling and enjoying 
or suffering in the highest degree. Such hearts will be of the same 



280 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

type as David's, and will be either remarkably good or very bad; 
for, notwithstanding David was a great sinner, he was nevertheless 
a man after God's own heart. If there is any class of Christians 
that make the Lord feel sick, it is the lukewarm class; they who do 
no harm, nor yet any good — never commit any sins the world 
would call immoral, nor do any active Christian work. They are 
like the church in Asia Minor, to whom the Lord sent a message, 
saying, " Because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will 
spew thee out of my mouth." The Lord would rather have men 
like David, Peter, Saul and John Bunyan; who, though they may 
drink deep in the cup of sin, and sink in the mire occasionally, will 
also rise upon the tops of the mountains, if need be, to proclaim his 
gospel or perform any other work assigned them. A great sinner 
will make a great saint; and great saints, when they do run off the 
track, do considerable damage. Such persons never do things by 
halves; they either do good or evil with their whole hearts; and 
when they praise God, they breathe the spirit of the verse that says: 

"Oh, for a heart to praise my God, 
A heart from sin set free; 
A heart that's sprinkled with the blood 
So freely shed for me." 

The persons, then, who are most guilty of the different forms of 
meanness already mentioned, are those whose hearts are shallow, 
lukewarm and uncultivated; but the worst of all is, there are more 
of that kind than any other. 

Another thing that very much retards the growth of the church 
and the spirituality of the members, is — 

FUNERAL PRAYER-MEETINGS. 

The impression many have that religion is a dry, melancholy 
sort of thing, has been caused by these kind of meetings; and 
Christians have only themselves to blame if they and their religion 
is rejected as being of a sad and gloomy nature. For a body of 
Christians to meet together (who, of all the people in the world, 
ought to be the most happy) and look, feel and act as though they 
had just gazed for the last time, upon the face of some dear relative, 
or had the corpse in their midst, is enough to make any one glad 
to get out and keep away from a prayer-meeting. This is the 
chief reason why not more than one-third or one-sixth of the mem- 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 28 1 

bers of any church attend such meetings; hence they cannot expect 
that unconverted persons will be interested in them. Then the 
tone, style and manner in which most persons engage in prayer 
have a depressing effect on the nervous system and spiritual nature. 
I question if there is any part of religious exercises that needs 
a thorough reformation more than prayer-meetings. There are 
thousands of persons who take part in a public meeting who ought 
not to do so, unless they limit their prayers to a very few words, 
because they either have such a poor command of language, or else 
are so cold and heartless, that they annoy the finer feelings of 
others, and kill the very spirit of prayer in the meeting. I am not 
arguing now that fine prayers are the most acceptable to God, or 
that a prayer in which the English language is terribly murdered 
will not reach the Throne of Grace; but simply that they do more 
injury than good in a public meeting, and that there should be as 
few of them as possible, and those few very brief. For no matter 
what members may say on this point, they certainly do not enjoy, 
and are not likely to manifest any great interest in, meetings so 
conducted. Then there are the mechanical prayer-meetings. I shall 
never forget such a meeting that I attended in my travels one even- 
ing. It was the most stiff, formal, cold, spiritless affair I ever wit- 
nessed or expect to. It seemed as if all their prayers and songs 
were turned out by a machine with a crank to it like they grind 
out music nowadays, for they went through the exercises with as 
much precision and regularity as clock work. They sang, then 
read a chapter, then prayed, then sang, prayed again, then followed 
another doleful tune, and by the time the meeting was over I felt 
my spirits go down thirty degrees below zero. Such meetings are 
more calculated to drive a man to the lunatic asylum or make him 
commit suicide, than they are to inspire the soul, infuse new life 
and vigor into him, and impart fresh strength to battle with the 
world and its allurements. Another trouble is that the same per- 
sons take part in nearly every meeting, which renders them ex- 
ceedingly monotonous and unsatisfactory. It is something like 
going to the same entertainment over and over again; there is 
nothing new — hence the oftener we see it, the less we are inter- 
ested in it, and the more tired we get of it. Then the singing is 
not as soul-stirring, lively and animating as it might and ought to 
be. Through the force of habit, carelessness, and lack of energy, 



282 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

people drop into a drawling style of singing, and hang on to each 
note as though it was the last they expected to sing this side of 
Jordan, instead of infusing life, vigor and spirit into their songs of 
praise. The style of singing in a church is a pretty good index to 
the life, vim and general character of the members. These are the 
chief causes of so much disinterestedness in prayer-meetings. 

The church is likewise very negligent in regard to the spiritual 
growth and temporal welfare of their young people. They compass 
sea and land to get them into church, and then leave them to their 
own fate. They need to be as tenderly watched over and protect- 
ed from the snares of life after they are in the church as before. 
They need wise counsel, experienced words of cheer and comfort, 
and the invitation of welcome to Christian homes. Prevention is 
better than cure; and it would be far better to prevent young peo- 
ple from wandering into the by-paths of sin, by making the church 
and its associations a home to them, rather than, by indifferent and 
sometimes unkind treatment, drive them away, and then seek to 
correct and chastise them for being away. I do not urge that it is 
the office of the church to look after the financial interest of indi- 
vidual members; but it is certainly a duty which the deacons and 
elders owe to themselves and the church to render all the assistance 
they can, by way of business advice and influence, to the young 
members of their flock. Their many years of business experience 
would be of great value to young men just commencing in life, and 
may be the means of saving many of them from bankruptcy. And 
if the young are successful in their enterprises, or in obtaining good 
situations, are they not in a better position to help the church? So 
that, by helping the young men and women in business matters, 
they would be putting money into the treasury of the church. But 
the church has generally pursued the wrong policy; they cry, give, 
give; but seldom help each other into a position to give. 

Let the young members be made to feel and realize that the 
church is interested in them, individually and collectively, and they 
will not only be willing, but feel that they can afford, to do and sac- 
rifice almost anything for its support and prosperity. But when 
they know that the chief interest the church has in them relates to 
their time and money, and a stiff, rigid adherence to its doctrines 
and authority, only half of their hearts go out toward and center in 
it; the other half wanders into the green, flowery meadows of ques- 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 283 

tionable, if not sinful, pleasure. The desires of the soul must be 
satisfied, and if they cannot be inside the church, they certainly 
will be outside. 

The church likewise fails to do its duty in not providing suitable 
entertainment for the flock, either at their homes or in the church. 
It is true, many churches have connected with them a literary 
society, and most of them some kind of gatherings they call socia- 
bles; and here and there a church can be found that does have a 
real sociable time at such gatherings; but the most of city churches 
(Chicago being a fair sample) manifest about as much genuine, free, 
unreserved sociability as there is in the yard of a penitentiary. 
There is so much formality about them, so much fussing and fixing 
up for the occasion, so as to look their prettiest, that, when they 
do assemble, they seem almost afraid to let their garments touch 
each other for fear it may not be polite. They shake hands as 
though their hands were made out of ice, and a good, warm, hearty 
shake would melt them. Then they dare not speak to more than 
about one half that are present, because they have never been 
introduced; that would be a breach of etiquette, notwithstanding 
they have met them in different meetings a hundred times, and 
the chances are that, unless they push themselves forward with 
the risk of being considered rather cheeky, it would be a long 
time before they were introduced. But suppose they are all well 
acquainted, how much enjoyment can there be, when the most that 
they do is to stand, sit, or walk around, and gaze at one another's 
manner and style of dress, and occasionally put in a few words in 
the following manner: Mr. B. meets Mrs. C; she extends her 
hand in a slow, cool, cautious manner (being more cautious as to 
how and who she shakes hands with than she was in selecting a 
husband), till she touches the finger-ends of Mr. B. Both express 
the ordinary salutation, "How do you do?" and briefly finish up 
with the highly interesting remarks: "Pleasant evening"; "Good 
many out to-night"; "They all seem to be enjoying themselves." 
Then they pass on, to go through the same performance with 
every one they meet; and these are what the city churches call 
sociables. 

There is one other respect in which churches fail to do their 
duty in reference to the young. They fail to bring out and develop 
the latent talent within them — to seek out those having special or 



284 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

peculiar gifts, and put them in the place where they can be of the 
most service. As it is, they are left to discern what their best 
talents are themselves, which is generally a difficult thing for them 
to do, especially when they feel diffident, either through deficient 
self-esteem or a reserved nature. How often it is the case that a 
member is appointed to lead a meeting, or put into an office, just 
because he is Mr. or Deacon So-and-so, when he is not at all 
adapted to it, and there are probably half a dozen others that 
could fill the place with more efficiency and honor. It is high 
time the church made talent the basis of qualification, instead of 
wealth, age, position, or favor arising from caste and clique influ- 
ence. One member may have far more natural ability, and even 
experience, at twenty-five than another at forty or fifty-five, be- 
cause he has more brains and more of the observing, experimental 
cast of mind, so that he sees and learns more in one day than 
others do in two. It is so in piety; some persons grow, develop 
and experience more, in their Christian character, in one year than 
others do in two or three. But the church seems to think that 
because a man is advanced in years, and has a fair share of this 
world's goods, he has the most experience and the best judgment 
for any position in which they may wish to place him. And, as 
kisses go by favor, so the son of one of these old and prominent 
members must be conspicuously put forward and placed in office 
on the strength of his father's name and influence, when, perhaps, 
he is not only personally unfit, but also less talented than his father 
was. 

THE MENTAL HEART AND CONVERSION. 

I regard the human soul as a trinity, composed of three distinct 
parts, but inseparably connected, namely: the heart, mind and 
spirit. It is in this respect I consider man to be created in the 
image of his Maker. There are three distinct persons in the God- 
head, constituting one person — Father, Son and Holy Ghost; so 
it seems to me that these three divisions of the soul correspond to 
the three persons of the Godhead; and our image of God consists 
in our mind representing the Father, our heart the Son, and our 
spiritual nature the Holy Ghost. When man is converted, each 
person in the Trinity has his special work. The Father appeals to 
the mind, the Holy Ghost to the spiritual nature, and the Son 
to the heart. Hence the work of conversion is threefold; through 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 285 

the mind or intellect, man is made acquainted with the truth; 
through the spiritual faculties, he next believes; and, thirdly, 
through the heart, he accepts and is saved. I hold, therefore, that 
no person can be converted without the united and undivided 
effort of the three persons in the Trinity, and the corresponding 
threefold operation of the human soul. A man may, through his 
intellect, become acquainted with the gospel, and through faith 
(one of the faculties belonging to his spirit nature), believe; but 
that would not save him. The devils know and believe in Christ, 
but they are lost nevertheless. So there is one more link to be 
added to complete salvation, and that is the love and acceptance of 
the truth with the heart. So, on the other hand, the idea of a man 
loving and accepting a thing he does not believe in, or knows 
nothing about, is simply impossible. Thus, it is evident there are 
three things necessary to salvation: First, knowledge; second, 
faith; and third, love — for when a person loves a thing, does not 
that imply the acceptance of it, if he can have it? Let me illus- 
trate: Here are two persons in the matrimonial market, a young 
man and a young woman. Three things are necessary before a 
marriage can take place. First, it is self-evident, the man must 
form the acquaintance of the woman. But he would not think of 
marrying merely because he was acquainted with her. Then the 
next thing necessary is to believe that she is just the woman, of 
all others in the world, adapted to be his wife; in other* words, he 
must have a spiritual recognition of the fact. But even that would 
not be sufficient to consummate marriage. There must be a third 
condition; he must love her with all his heart; then he can marry 
in spirit and in truth, and Heaven will sanction and smile upon the 
union. But should he marry, as thousands do, with only the two 
first conditions (acquaintance and belief that she .would make a 
good wife), that would be what I should call legalized prostitution. 
This is precisely the condition with a large number of people, some 
of them in the church and a great many outside. They know the 
truth intellectually, and believe it; but have not accepted it with, 
the heart. Thus, it seems to me, that human marriage beautifully 
and correctly illustrates the marriage of the soul to Christ. I have 
also thought that the three primary colors in nature bear some 
relation to the primary divisions of the soul; for we evidently love 
the color, with its gradation in shade, which harmonizes with that 



286 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

part of the soul between which there exists mutual adaptation. 
The heart, for instance, loves red, and the different colors of that 
type or class, symbolize the strength and modification of the affec- 
tions; the blue belongs to the mind; and the yellow typifies the 
spiritual nature. (I do not give this idea in respect to colors as a 
scientific fact, but rather as a suggestion open for investigation.) 

Each division of the soul has its positive and negative force, 
and when either force or power gets out of balance there is trouble 
and corruption in the soul, and will be until equilibrium is restored. 
And this is what ails man; the powers of the soul are unevenly 
balanced, and consequently at variance with each other. Every 
color has its complementary, which forms a contrast in order to 
effectually bring out the beauty and richness of each. So every 
power of the soul has its contrast or opposite, otherwise the soul 
would lose or consume itself. If there was no power to counteract 
the intellect, man would do nothing but study, and thus become 
insane. If he did nothing but exercise the affections, he would 
become too soft to live or be of any use. And if there was no 
counteracting force to the religious nature, he would want to do 
nothing else but worship, and would become crazy on that subject. 
Hence man's character is governed by opposites, and the kind or 
quality of his character will depend upon the relation of these 
opposites to each other. 

In the upper part of the brain are the organs which relate to the 
spiritual nature of the soul; and in the very center of the top of the 
head is the organ through which men love, revere and worship God; 
while all around it are a group or family of organs which constitute 
the religious and spiritual character of man. Some of them appre- 
ciate the love and kindness of God, while others, acting as the 
balancing power, enable us to comprehend his justice and un- 
changeableness; so that they who are deficient in any of these or- 
gans, or have the two opposites unevenly balanced, must necessarily 
have an imperfect conception of the nature and character of God. 

The mind occupies the middle portion of the head; the intel- 
lectual portion being the primary or positive power, and the 
semi-intellectual, or sentimental, the complementary or negative 
condition. 

The heart has its seat in the lower, or mostly in the back, por- 
tion of the brain, and consists of the affections and the propensions; 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 287 

the affections being the impulsive, loving power of the heart; and 
the selfish propensities, its restraining power. Hence the heart 
very much resembles two political parties of opposite views, which 
are so essential to the well-being and justice of a government; but 
when either party holds the balance of power, the government be- 
comes one-sided, and more or less corrupt and imperfect. Just so 
with the heart; when the affections are too strong, it becomes too 
soft, weak and self-consuming; and when the propensities are too 
strong, the affections are restrained too much, and the heart grows 
hard, selfish and impenetrable as a rock. The heart has likewise 
two natures, rendering it active and passive; the active arising from 
the affections, and the passive from the propensities. The ancient 
writers seem to have had no definite idea of the term heart; and in 
the Scriptures the intellect seems to be associated with the heart 
— that is, the heart included the affections, propensities and intel- 
lect, and was almost synonymous with the soul. This, at least, 
seems to be the general impression by readers of the Bible. But 
we must remember that they were not writing a scientific or phil- 
osophic treatise on the heart, and so used it in a general, compre- 
hensive sense, and according to the manifestations which depended 
on the influence the intellect and the will had upon it. They spoke, 
then, of the existing state of the heart, as modified by mind and will, 
rather than of the heart itself; just the same as, in speaking of the 
will, the intellect is invariably associated with it, because, through 
and by its assistance, the will determines its course of action, 
whether to do or not to do; when, in reality, the will and intellect 
are two distinct things, but neither perfect without the other. So, 
in like manner, when we speak of God, we can associate the idea 
of one, two or three persons in that name, all depending upon 
whether we wish to use it in a general or limited sense. Thus did 
the writers of the New Testament use the word heart; and we must 
not suppose that, when they use a phrase like the one previously 
mentioned, " With the heart man believeth unto righteousness," 
they really meant that the heart believes, but rather that it must 
accompany belief in order to secure righteousness, otherwise faith 
will be in vain. Take two other passages of Scripture : " The heart 
is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked " ; "Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul and strength." 
In the first place we are told that the heart is deceitful and wicked, 



288 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

and then to love with all the heart; but we are not told what the 
heart is metaphysically. We are told the condition of the heart 
by nature, and what it should do when properly exercised and 
directed. Thus the Scripture writers, in referring to the heart, sim- 
ply allude to its nature, condition, and influence upon the character, 
and nowhere attempt to give a logical definition of what it is any 
more than they do of the mind or soul. Neither do they attempt 
to give a literal description of any thing, place or person. They 
tell us there is a heaven and a hell; but as to where these places 
are, and what they are, they are silent • — but give us to understand 
it would be wise to keep out of one place and get into the other, 
and give full directions how to do so. Hence, it is evident, they 
were not intended to be lexicographers. 

The general definition of heart at the present day is that it is 
the seat of the affections, but this seems to be too contracted to be 
expressive of its correct character. It only defines one condition 
of the heart, namely, its positive and active nature. I have no 
doubt but the heart centers, or has its starting power, in the 
cerebellum (the seat of the love organs for the sexes in the pos- 
terior part of the brain), but it extends through all the domestic 
organs and propensities, in the same sense as the nervous system 
has its headquarters in the brain, but extends over the whole sys- 
tem. I shall offer two arguments in support of the theory that the 
heart-center is in the cerebellum. First, because every emotion of 
the love feelings is felt in the physical heart, through the strong 
and direct nervous communication existing between the heart and 
cerebellum. Second, whenever the heart is filled with lust and 
causes its possessor to yield to any kind of sexual abuse, that con- 
dition of sensuality will be manifested in and around the eyes by a 
set of nerves running direct from the cerebellum to the eyes. So, 
likewise, will any pure emotion of the love feelings light up the 
eyes with a peculiar brightness and fascination that no other 
emotion of the soul can do. 

But what evidence have we that the propensities form the 
restraining or negative part of the heart? Just because that is the 
only part of the brain that does or can counteract the activity of 
the cerebellum; in other words, selfishness is the only antidote 
of love. And as these two conditions are intended to balance each 
other, and make the heart perfect in that respect, they are insep- 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 289 

arably connected, though distinct in operation. The affectionate, 
positive state of the heart is hot; the selfish and negative, cold; and 
as heat and cold must unite to form a temperate atmosphere, so the 
affectionate and selfish nature of man must blend together, so as to 
render the temperature of the heart neither too hot nor too cold; 
though there are times and circumstances that render it necessary 
for either condition to be stimulated to more activity than the 
other, and the heart changes like the seasons of the year. Secondly, 
the selfish organs are the next in locality to the love organs, occu- 
pying the same plane or level of the brain; so, even if they are not 
directly connected with the heart, their influence over it will be the 
strongest. These, also, are the only organs that provide for the 
desires and wants of the affections. Thirdly, nothing ministers to, 
and renders active, the affections so much as the gratification of the 
propensities. For instance, take two persons whose hearts have 
become estranged and unfriendly; nothing will restore them to 
natural friendship quicker than to have them sit close together, and 
partake of a good meal. It may require several if their feelings are 
very intense. I am not sure but this would be about the best way 
to cure divorce applicants — shut up the two dissatisfied parties in 
a room together for about a week, and make them eat out of the 
same dish. They would probably become reconciled, and change 
their minds by the end of the week. The philosophy of it is that 
eating makes them feel good physically, and being close together 
and having to eat out of the same dish, or off the same table, forces 
them to be friendly against their will, and their friendship being 
made active, love follows as a matter of course. Thus I conclude 
that the heart is that part of the soul which connects mind with 
matter — the spiritual with the physical; and that the heart is, of 
itself, partly animal and partly spiritual in its nature. 

Ever since the fall, the heart of man has been out of balance. 
His selfishness has become an iceberg, chilling and contracting his 
affections. Hence the human family are not warm and congenial 
in their relations to each other: it is every one for himself, regard- 
less of the rights and feelings of others, and the command of Christ, 
to "Love thy neighbor as thyself," goes unregarded. This selfish 
principle of the human heart has become so corrupt and hardened 
by sin that it has killed the natural feeling of love and friendship 
that would otherwise exist between man and his Maker. Man 



29O MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

carries in his defiled soul the sense of shame and condemnation for 
having- done wrong; but, like a stubborn child, refuses to acknowl- 
edge it, or seek reconciliation, and the more he feels and realizes it, 
the more he hates his Maker. Hate arises from the perverted, 
selfish nature of the heart, caused by the excessive and misdirected 
use of the propensities, and the neglect of culture and discipline to 
restore them to their normal condition. Selfishness is the out- 
growth of the propensities in their perverted condition and activity. 
If they were not perverted and were used in a legitimate manner, 
they would be the executive, regulating, controlling-, restraining 
and balancing power of the heart. The loving, impulsive nature of 
the heart needs this balancing power; otherwise it would be too 
sweet to live. It would be like a balloon without ballast, or a loco- 
motive with the full power of steam turned on, and nothing to 
regulate or check it. This, however, is but a picture of what the 
heart would be without the influence of the propensities; but man's 
artificial life, his injurious habits, his disposition to trade, and the 
false education of society, has put too much ballast into the heart, 
and he must throw considerable of it out before it can rise to its 
own true level. The heart now is bound, fettered and restrained 
too much. It is like an animal in the coils of a serpent, not yet 
crushed to death, but helpless, and unable to release itself. There 
is but one way or means on earth of releasing it from the power of 
that monster serpent, selfishness; and that is by education — I 
mean the education of the heart in every way, by every means and 
through every agency possible; by the gospel, by intellectual and 
social culture, and by hereditary descent. Man's disposition is a 
reflex of the nature of the whole heart; and in proportion as the 
heart is good or bad, hot or cold, affectionate or selfish, will the 
variety and diversity of the disposition be manifested. It is the 
disposition of persons that causes one to either like or dislike them; 
that which draws or repels human beings toward or from each 
other; and the disposition is revealed as plainly in the features and 
countenance as it is in one's actions. With the heart we not only 
have the power to love others, but also to win them, and the power 
to control others as well as ourselves. The heart is that which 
gives man unlimited power with his Maker. Faith may reach the 
Throne of Grace, but it will come back empty-handed if the heart 
does not go with it. The heart is the only thing in the world that 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 291 

will control a woman; she respects and bows to it as to no other 
kind of authority or influence. Get her in love, and she can be 
molded to the will of man like a lump of clay; but try to compel her 
to do a thing by force, or the mere influence of mind, wealth or 
position, and there never was a mule more difficult to manage. 

So far as man is concerned, the heart is the source of all the 
evil in the soul. It is the soul's battle-field, on which the forces of 
good and evil contend for the mastery and for possession. It is 
the heart that sins, not the mind or spirit. True, the thoughts 
of men are continually evil, but it is because of their association 
with an impure heart. If the heart was pure, so would be the 
thoughts, words and actions. Man's reason, judgment and will are 
all governed by the desires and disposition of the heart. Whoever 
knew a person to conscientiously advocate or cheerfully yield to a 
thing his heart did not approve? The heart is the motive-power 
of the soul, and determines the direction of all its faculties. 

Religion has not' yet reached the heart, and transformed its 
character into the image of God. Selfishness is as strong to-day 
as it was a thousand years ago. Men observe the outward forms 
of morality, and exercise the moral and religious faculties, and that 
is about as far as their religion goes generally. That religion has 
changed the natural character of man arising from the heart, there 
is but very little evidence, from the fact that the disposition and 
passions are modified but very little after the acceptance of it. 
Not because the religion of Christ cannot do it, but because so few 
persons take it thoroughly into the heart, and allow it to do its 
legitimate work. The Bible declares there are but few who enter 
in at the strait and narrow gate, though many seek to enter in, 
but are not able. There are thousands of persons who seek to 
worship God through their mental and religious faculties, but leave 
the loving and confiding nature of the heart out. They pray, sing, 
speak, and believe all the Word of God, and live, as far as general 
conduct and morality is concerned, consistent lives; but do or say 
anything that will touch their feelings or arouse their selfish pro- 
pensities, and the influence of religion is no more apparent in their 
conduct than in one who never professed it; just because it is not 
in their hearts. When religion gets into a man's heart it, in time, 
will mold and transform his character. But when religion only 
occupies the upper and middle portion of the brain, the individual 



292 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

is simply a moral, sentimental, and perhaps a strict, rigid and dig- 
nified Christian — only that and nothing more. The mean, sly, 
tricky, unconfiding, unsocial, two-faced, fun-making, sarcastic kind 
of disposition, practiced and exhibited among the majority of 
Christians, shows that their religion is of a cold, heartless, passive 
nature, rather than of a whole-souled, loving, active nature. The 
cause of such a Satanic kind of disposition (for it certainly is not 
Godlike) arises from the deficiency of the organic quality and the 
religious nature, two conditions explained in the latter part of 
this book; hence their heart-nature is strange, peculiar, unnatural, 
their characters are odd, deformed, out of proportion, and need, in 
some respects, to be entirely changed and reversed. The exercise 
of the religious faculties in connection with the intellectual and 
sentimental, which is so general and popular, is one kind of reli- 
gion, and the exercise of them in connection with the heart is 
another, of which there are very few good illustrations. It em- 
bodies the golden rule, "Whatsoever ye would that others should 
do unto you, do ye even so unto them;" and again, "Return good 
for evil, or do good to them that despitefully use you." But there 
are not two persons in a thousand, in the church or out of it, that 
dc it. Still this is what the Bible teaches, and the religion of 
Christ requires. 

How can the heart be made softer and more susceptible to 
religious impression — how every way better, purer and nobler in 
its nature? There are three ways: First, by culture and discipline, 
which can be received through the influence of the Gospel in the 
heart, and by the teachings of moral philosophy, and the constant, 
legitimate exercise of the social feelings. Secondly, by the organic 
quality, raising the heart to a higher standard, making it more 
angelic in its nature. The organic quality can be developed by 
the refined, exalted and manly exercise of the intellectual, senti- 
mental and moral faculties, in contradistinction to their use in 
doing, saying or seeing anything of a common, low or degrading 
nature. Thirdly, the condition of the heart can be improved by 
the laws of hereditary transmission. All persons carry through life 
just the kind of heart they inherit from their father and mother; 
and the nature of the heart which parents transmit to their children 
will depend upon the strength and purity of their love for each 
other. Those parents who beget children when they have no con- 




Powers of the Soul. 
See Definition on next page. 



DEFINITION OF THE POWERS OF THE SOUL, 

AS ASSOCIATED WITH ITS ORGAN, THE BRAIN. 

Spirit is the highest power of the soul, being the embodiment of the organs of 
veneration, spirituality, benevolence, hope, conscientiousness, firmness, imitation and 
agreeableness. 

Mind is the second power, arising from the following organs: Causality, comparison, 
human nature, mirthfulness, eventuality, time, tune, locality, individuality, form, size, 
weight, color, order, calculation, language, constructiveness, ideality, sublimity, cautious- 
ness, approbativeness, self-esteem and continuity. 

The Heart is the third power or division. It is to the soul what the feet are to the 
body, and constitutes the impulsive, emotional, active, locomotive nature of the soul. It 
is partially animal and partially spiritual, and unites souland body in sympathy with each 
other. It arises from the combination of the following organs: Amativeness, conjugality, 
parental love, friendship, inhabitiveness, combativeness, destructiveness, secretiveness, 
acquisitiveness, alimentiveness, bibativeness, vitativeness. 

Each division of the soul (spirit, mind and heart) is the result of the combination of 
certain organs; but the kind or diversity of spirit, mind and heart will depend on the 
quality, size and different combinations of the organs named. And the kind of soul one 
has, and its points of distinction from all others, will depend on the strength and relation 
of the three parts to each other. 

I use the word mind, in the engraving, as the name of one of the divisions of the 
soul, and not, as it is sometimes used, to denote the entire spiritual nature. 

It is somewhat difficult to determine to which division some of the organs belong; 
and the reader must not suppose that I wish to convey the idea that there is a distinct 
separation between any of the faculties or divisions. Each faculty exerts an influence 
upon every other, modifying its action and affecting the character not only of the heart, 
mind or spirit, but the whole man. For instance, we speak of a proud heart, meaning 
that the heart is affected by perverted approbativeness. So that, while each organ has a 
distinct function, and can be exercised or restrained independent of the others, they are 
not isolated. 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 293 

genial love for each other, no harmony of mind or feeling, not only 
prostitute themselves, but stamp unnatural and bad dispositions in 
the hearts of their children, and an imperfect character in general. 
I hold that sexual intercourse between two persons having no 
mutual love is prostitution, whether married by the laws of the 
country or not; and I regard affinity of soul as the primary and 
most important condition requisite to marriage, and the only kind 
that Heaven recognizes and blesses. And I further believe that a 
person having thus loved, can never love as purely, tenderly and 
devotedly the second time. The hardened condition of the heart, 
with its attending evils, was caused by the irreligious sexual inter- 
course of our first parents. And as Cain was their first son, he 
had an irreligious nature, and the probability is that all his de- 
scendants had. Abel had a religious nature — a good heart; but he 
was killed by his unnatural, irreligious brother, Cain; hence there 
was none to transmit a religious (or, rather, partially religious) 
nature until Adam begat another son like unto Abel. Let no one 
misunderstand me in regard to the religious nature. I do not 
mean that a person born with such a nature will be perfect, and 
not need salvation or conversion, but that they are more submissive 
in their disposition, more readily yield to Divine authority and the 
acceptance of God's truth and gospel, and, under favorable circum- 
stances, will incline to and accept religion early in life. If Adam 
had been blest with children before sinning, they would undoubt- 
edly have inherited a perfect religious character, and been free 
from sin. As it is, notwithstanding Adam might have repented, 
his posterity only inherits a partially religious character, while 
Cain had none at all. And it seems to me, if the race is ever to 
become perfect in this world, or nearly so, it must be through the 
gospel operating upon the heart, and the development of a higher 
religious nature through the laws of sexual intercourse; so that 
every succeeding generation will be a step in advance of the prior. 
If the passions and vicious dispositions of men are transmitted, so 
likewise are good qualities; and if a father and mother vigorously 
exercise their religious faculties till religion runs through their 
whole soul, why. should not a religious nature and character be 
transmitted to their offspring, just the same as the mental and 
warlike characteristics of Napoleon Bonaparte were inherited from 
the active brain of his mother, or the mental characteristics of the 



294 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

Beecher family were inherited from their mother? Following is a 
paragraph from the highly instructive and admirable work of Mrs. 
Hester Pendleton, entitled "The Parents' Guide": 

In the life of Napoleon we learn that his mother was, for some months previous to his 
birth, sharing the fortunes of war with her husband, in constant peril and danger, much 
of her time even on horseback. Any person familiar with this mode of living must 
ackowledge it causes inspiring emotions. What conveys to the mind a greater conscious- 
ness of power than to be raised, as it were, above earth, and direct at will an animal so 
much our superior in strength? Here we can detect the causes that produced a mind 
like this great conqueror's. The health-inspiring habits of his mother gave him a strong 
constitution and wonderful powers of endurance; while the excitement of constant expos- 
ure to peril conduced to an activity of intellect highly favorable to the corresponding 
qualities in the mind of her unborn babe. Consequently the first manifestations of the 
young Napoleon were pride, an indomitable spirit, and a passion for war. These being 
innate, and consequently exercised, increased to such a degree that nothing but the 
world's subjugation could bind his ambition. No wonder that, during his prosperity, the 
continent "became one vast altar, on which human sacrifice was offered to the ambition 
of a Napoleon." 

I remember a little boy whose head I examined and found defi- 
cient in veneration and who was very self-willed. His mother had 
talked to him about Heaven and told him she expected to go 
there when she died, and wanted to meet him in that beautiful and 
happy place; to which he responded, "You can go there if you 
want to, but I am quite contented to stay here." The cause of this 
boy's self-will and spirit of indifference, as well as lack of venera- 
tion, was caused by his mother suffering so much, and having to 
exercise her will to struggle through her period of gestation and 
delivery. The mother, though a Christian woman, had not been 
in a religious and happy mood of mind, hence the absence of it in 
the character of her child, who had a self-willed, fretful, half-sullen 
and unsociable disposition, that was hard to manage — an unprom- 
ising and irreligious child. In this case, however, the reader will 
observe that the irreligious nature of the boy did not arise from 
immorality or uncleanness of the parents, but from the mental and 
physical sufferings of his mother, which prevented her from exer- 
cising those happy and Christian graces of character which would 
have produced an entirely different disposition in her child. 

The chief hardening processes of the heart arise from the bus- 
iness relations and pursuits of life. Business is conducted on a 
selfish principle. There is no friendship or love about it, and men 
who give their whole mind and energy to money-making kill the 
noblest impulses of the heart; because, in the very nature of their 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 295 

transactions, they close up the social avenues of the heart. Thus 
it was with the young man whom Christ told to sell all that he had, 
and give to the poor. His heart was bound fast by worldly pros- 
perity, and he had not the inclination or power to change his 
affections from earthly to celestial wealth. It was not the mere 
possession of wealth to which Christ objected, but he wished to 
test him, and so he pointed out to him (as he desired to know 
wherein he lacked) the qualification to inherit eternal life. He 
lacked terribly; his whole heart was corrupted with idolatrous love 
for his worldly possessions, and there was no room for Christ in his 
heart; and yet this young man prided himself on being a model of 
morality. He probably worshiped regularly in the Jewish syna- 
gogue, did not lie, cheat, steal, drink, or visit strange women; but 
his religion had no heart in it. It was confined to the upper portion 
of the brain, the outgrowth of the moral and sentimental organs. 
And there are thousands of our nice young men and women whose 
religious condition is precisely the same; their moral characters are 
almost perfect; they would feel insulted if they were not considered 
pure and virtuous in all that pertains to the moral code of refined 
society; and yet their hearts are destitute of that internal, vital 
purity from which alone a lasting character can arise. They are 
like sepulchers that are white and fair without, radiant in the sun- 
light of heaven, but full of rottenness and corruption within. Their 
characters are externally pure through the force of circumstances 
— through custom and society — and partially through the love of 
their sentimental faculties for that which is beautiful, tasty, refined 
and pure; so that they shine very bright in the sunlight of pros- 
perity, but let the lowering clouds of adversity brood over them, 
or the finger of God point out their corrupt nature and their duty, 
and they sink into despair, or go wallowing in the mire of sin. So 
with the man of business — he who grinds the widow to death; he 
who insists on collecting his rent from a poor or sick family; he 
who is so exact in the payment or collection of all bills; he who 
lays great stress on honesty, and in business principles turns neither 
to the right nor the left; he who has no time for anything, nor 
interest in anything, but business; he who never grants a favor, 
is seldom or never lenient and accommodating in financial trans- 
actions; and he who loves to take all he can in money, property 
or labor, and give as little as possible for it — is one who either 
needs a sledgehammer to break his heart or a hot fire to soften it. 



296 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

To sum up in regard to the heart and its improvement: Let 
parents so train and educate their offspring that they will look upon 
every mean, unprincipled act with utter abhorrence; educate them 
to be tender-hearted, social and affectionate toward all mankind; 
endeavor to inspire within them a desire to be kind, generous, 
neighborly, unselfish and true-hearted; teach them to be more con- 
fiding and less suspicious; to be frank and open-hearted, free to 
express themselves, rather than full of evasive, reserved cunning, 
or sly and underhand disposition. Let parents do everything in 
their power to render their homes the abode of love and happiness, 
the place where they can have all the amusement and innocent fun 
they want — where they can enjoy themselves to their heart's con- 
tent, instead of being trained up as though they were a military 
school. In very many families the hearts of children are hardened 
before they are out of their teens; and it does not always require 
rough and severe treatment to do it, either; only neglect their 
social wants, be indifferent and cold in your manner and behavior 
toward them, fail to impress upon them your love, and how much 
you desire theirs in return, and their hearts will harden, partly 
through want of culture, and partly through indifference; just the 
same as a garden of beautiful flowers, if left to itself, will soon 
contain more weeds than flowers. In fact, the youthful heart very 
much resembles a garden. It contains rich and fertile soil, in which 
you can deposit a variety of seeds that will grow up into lovely and 
fragrant flowers; or, from the same ground, you may raise thorns, 
thistles, briers and weeds; and, if you choose, you can have a mix- 
ture of all kinds, side by side, in the same garden. So parents can 
sow the seeds that will raise the thorns of discontent and the weeds 
of corruption in their children's hearts; or they can, by kind and 
gentle words, implant good seeds, which, if watered by confiding 
friendship, sunned and warmed by love, and guarded by caution, 
will ripen into noble impulses and fragrant acts; or, they may sow 
the seeds of good and evil, and, through carelessness and a lack of 
cautiousness, let the seeds of evil grow up with the good, as is 
generally the case in every family^ 

CONVERSION. 
The spirit, which controls the organs in the upper and crowning 
part of the head, is the third and most important part of the soul 
trinity. It is the highest and most Godlike in its nature, and has 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 297 

its positive and negative forces just the same as the heart and mind 
have the organs; in the fore part being the positive, and those of 
the back part the negative. In the heart and lower nature we find 
the source of the love feelings which relate to human beings and 
associations; but from the spirit nature spring those higher and 
purest love feelings for the Divine Being and spiritual associations. 
Hence it is in connection with the spirit of man that I propose to 
discuss conversion, or the relation between the spirit of man and 
the spirit of God — how the latter influences and controls the 
former, and how the former is brought into saving relationship 
with the latter. 

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth, 
so is every one that is born of the Spirit." This is the Scripture 
explanation of conversion, through the agency of the Holy Spirit. 
There are two facts worthy of notice here: First, that the wind, as 
far as man is concerned, is a free agent, and blows just where it 
pleases; secondly, we cannot see it, or tell where it comes from or 
goes to, but can hear it and observe its effects. Following out the 
illustration and comparison, the Spirit is a free agent. It works 
upon and influences the spiritual nature of man when it pleases, 
how it pleases and where it pleases. We cannot see its operations 
■ — how it comes or where it goes; but we can always observe its 
effects; so that, when a person is converted, he will always give 
evidence of it. The work of the Spirit is confined to the spiritual 
nature of man, and has nothing to do with the heart. Christ works 
upon the heart through his Word and the preaching of the gospel. 
While recognizing Spirit influence in conversion, my object is not 
to treat of that specially, but rather of the material view of it, as 
manifested in the functions of the brain, and the changes that take 
place in the exercise and relation of the faculties. 

Spiritual death is the state of the soul when separated from God, 
its Maker. Conversion is the returning and unison of the soul with 
God. And the separation of the soul from God means to be dead 
to righteousness and alive to sin; a condition caused by the upper 
portion of the brain (including the spiritual and moral nature) be- 
ing dormant, and the lower portion (the animal nature) being active. 
And whenever the propensities of men are active, without the con- 
trolling and guiding influence of their spiritual and moral nature, 



298 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

they are sure to work in a perverted direction, which is sin. To be 
spiritually alive is to have the soul united to God, and that union 
is caused by the quickening and bringing into activity the upper 
and middle portion of the brain, and subjugating the lower portion. 
In other words, the spiritual nature has the ascendancy, and 
through it the animal nature is kept in subjection. The animal 
nature, however, is not to be checked so as to be entirely inactive, 
because its activity is essential to Christian character. It is to re- 
ligion what it is to business — the executive power; but that power 
must be directed by the holy influence of the spiritual. It is like 
confined steam, having great force and power, but it must be con- 
trolled by that which is superior in quality; and just in proportion as 
spirit is superior to matter, so the spiritual nature is superior to the 
animal. Hence, spiritual death is to live in the exercise of the 
ungoverned propensities, and spiritual life is to. live in the exercise 
of the spiritual and moral faculties. The Scriptures assert that, 
"The natural man [or, more properly, according to the original lan- 
guage, the animal man] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of 
God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned"; clearly showing that the 
gospel and all spiritual truth and knowledge is applicable only to 
the moral, spiritual and mental faculties — that it cannot be even 
understood, much less practiced, by the propensities or animal na- 
ture. Thus, the difference between the converted and unconverted 
is this: Converted persons live in the upper part of the brain; the 
unconverted, in the base or lower part — that is, they are actuated 
to think and act chiefly by those portions of the brain. Hence the 
wicked prosper, because the exercise of the propensities is what 
brings worldly prosperity, whereas exercising the moral and higher 
nature does not; so that the righteous are generally poor in this 
world's goods, but exceedingly rich in mind and spirit. "Whatso- 
ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 

The great change wrought by the conversion of Paul was this: 
Previous to it, his religious faculties were directed by the propen- 
sities, and so were perverted; after his conversion the religious fac- 
ulties assumed the control, and directed the propensities; and the 
same animal force that sought to destroy Christians and the relig- 
ion of Christ before his conversion afterward sought to protect and 
build it up. It was the strong animal nature of Paul in connection 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 299 

with his indomitable will that rendered it necessary for his conver- 
sion to be so marked and miraculous. God always meets the sinner 
according to the requirements of his individual case. Those in 
whom the animal nature is strongest will require a direct (and, 
in one sense, a forcible, if not a sudden) interference and manifes- 
tation of Divine power to convert them; while those who, in 
character, resemble Timothy, do not need any strong, decisive 
demonstration. The still, small voice and the gentle influence of 
the Spirit is all such persons require to lead them into the kingdom 
of Heaven. Although the gospel can be comprehended only by the 
intellectual and spiritual faculties, it can, through them, act upon 
the heart, which requires to be brought into subjection. 

It is the heart that needs conversion specially; it is that which 
sins, and that only. I mean the heart is the predeterminating, 
responsible part of the soul; for, although the whole soul may be 
corrupt, it is only so through its associations with, and subordina- 
tion to, the heart — it being the controlling motive-power of the 
soul. Hence, when the heart is right, all is right; but when the 
heart is wrong, all is wrong. I have already shown that the pro- 
pensities, being perverted, have rendered the heart hard, and natu- 
rally repugnant to that which is pure, holy, gentle and meek. 
Thus the object and need of conversion is to change this hardened, 
perverted condition of the heart. Christ clearly illustrated this 
point when he said, ''Suffer little children to come unto me and 
forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of Heaven"; and again, 
"Except ye become as a little child, ye can in no wise enter the 
kingdom of Heaven." What, then, are the characteristics of a little 
child, which hardened adults have not, but ought to have? Among 
them are docility, humility, submission, implicit faith and trust, 
and confiding affection, mingled with pure friendship. The first 
step in conversion is the Divine Spirit quickening the organ of 
spirituality to the perception of truth and the conviction of sin. 
The second step is the awakening of the dormant conscience to 
sorrow and repentance, and the next step is the surrender of the 
heart and the acceptance of Christ as a Mediator, as revealed in 
the gospel. Thus far man is saved by imputation; for, "With the 
heart man believeth unto righteousness"; but there is a second 
work, in connection with salvation, which embodies sanctification. 
In other words, there are two things connected with and essential 



300 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

to salvation: justification and sanctification^ The former is accom- 
plished at the time of conversion; the latter commences after 
conversion, beginning where the former left off, and continuing all 
through life. Justification is instantaneous; sanctification is pro- 
gressive. Before conversion, the religious faculties are either dor- 
mant or under the influence of the propensities; in conversion, the 
spiritual nature is aroused and becomes the positive force in the 
character, and the propensities are under its control. If not, then 
the individual is not converted, and his Christian character will not 
amount to anything, no matter how much praying and talking he 
may do, nor how much religious enthusiasm he may manifest. The 
subjection of the animal nature to the control of the spiritual is the 
best and truest test of genuine conversion. The propensities being 
once subjected to the influence of the religious organs, then com- 
mences the work of grace or sanctification. For it must not be 
supposed that, as soon as a man is converted, the desires, appetites 
and propensities are removed at once. They are simply subdued, 
held in subjection, restrained, made passive instead of active, and 
occasionally they break out, causing the individual to sin, and then 
suffer remorse of conscience. Hence, sanctification is the renova- 
tion and regeneration of the propensities of the heart, till in time 
passion and all unnatural desire is removed and exterminated. As 
in the case of a person suffering with disease, we say the individual 
is saved just as soon as the destroying agent is checked, held in 
subjection, got under human control, although he is not well, or 
cured of the disease, until it is driven out of the system. So, as 
soon as the disease of sin is checked, spiritual death is thwarted, 
but the work of healing and building up the soul still remains. 
Conversion saves the sinner from death; but his sinful soul needs 
healing and his character needs building up into the image of God. 

We will now consider some of the favorable and unfavorable 
conditions to conversion. The first favorable condition (which I 
have already described) is hereditary religious nature. Such per- 
sons never require any wonderful demonstrations of Divine power 
to convert them. Under proper influence and religious culture, 
they grow into that happy condition, and cannot name the week, 
month, or sometimes the year of their acceptance of Christ. I 
remember hearing the experience of quite a young boy who, when 
seeking admission to the church, could not name any particular 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 3OI 

time when he was converted, but had always felt religiously influ- 
enced; and stated that three years previous (when he was about 
five years old) he used to breathe the prayer of David, "Create in 
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." He 
was a good illustration of the type who have the religious nature. 
His parents were both strongly devoted to religion before and after 
his birth, so that the favorable condition he received at birth was 
supplemented by early training. Another favorable condition is a 
happy, contented exercise of the social faculties in the family, and 
between the parents especially. I remember just such a family. 
The parents, though regular attendants, never joined the church, 
but they gave every encouragement to their children, by way of 
non-interference, and allowing them to exercise their free will; and 
the most of them, if not all, became members. 

The unfavorable conditions can be nearly all traced to heredi- 
tary causes, and are included under the head of irreligious nature; 
but there is one condition I wish particularly to speak of. It is 
sometimes entirely inherited and frequently only partially, and 
then increased by the evil habits and associations after birth. I 
refer to sensuality, perverted amativeness. A heart steeped in this 
kind of iniquity is very hard to convert, and still harder to be con- 
trolled by the human will. It is a little hell of itself, in which pure 
thoughts are as scarce as flowers and water in the great desert of 
Sahara. It is an evil that spreads its roots into every propensity 
of the heart, permeates and corrupts the whole soul; and when this 
passion is indulged in excessively it makes men and women swear 
like fiends, makes even a good-natured woman irritable, fretful and 
cross, and when it becomes unbridled lust, it makes its victim steal, 
cheat, swindle, rob, plunder and turn defaulter. Many a man has 
run through a large salary and a good business to satiate his un- 
governable passion. As a rule, preaching to such persons will 
have very little effect, even if they do get within the sound of the 
gospel, which they are not apt to do; for such a passion makes 
them want to shun all good society and whatever is pure by nature. 
Let us inquire, then, how this terrible passion is produced. First, 
the excessive amative indulgence of parents is stamped upon their 
own souls and transmitted to their offspring. Prostitution can and 
does exist in married life, as well as in promiscuous intercourse. 
It is time that married people understood this fact. Whenever 



302 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

men or women violate the natural laws of their being, they must 
take the consequences, whether married or not. There are thou- 
sands of lovely women all over the land whose youthful color is 
fast fading, like the leaves of autumn, losing vigor of body and 
mind when they ought to be gaining it, and dragging out lives of 
miserable existence, just because they are married to men whose 
lecherous habits make them stick like leeches, and rob them of 
their vitality. Such parents need not be astonished if their chil- 
dren (providing they have enough vitality left to raise any) turn 
out regular scapegoats, libertines and penitentiary-birds; for such 
is very apt to be the case when the wife becomes disgusted with 
the conduct of her husband. 

There is yet another way in which married persons transmit 
sensuality, and that is by indulging in copulation at that stage, 
during pregnancy, when the mother should be left free from the 
influences of passion. The excitement of the sexual feelings at 
such a time is strongly impressed upon the unborn child, and de- 
velops into unholy passion in its future character. Lust brings 
into the world what Paul calls in his First Epistle to the Corinth- 
ians, unclean children. Corinthians, 7th chapter and 14th verse — 
"Else were your children unclean." Unclean or impure parents 
will be the progenitors of unclean children, who will grow up to 
be a curse to the world instead of a blessing. I remember a man, 
who undoubtedly had some such propensity born in him, stating 
that, in his younger days, he bought a vile, smutty book, and 
sent it to a respectable young lady, and that when at home he kept 
one in his trunk, which he purposely left unlocked, so that his sister 
and another young lady stopping with her, could see it. He turned 
out to be a wicked, sensual man, a regular thief; he stole money 
and jewelry, served a term in the penitentiary, and the last I heard 
of him he was in there again. He had considerable religious feel- 
ing, and but for the counteracting influence of his propensities, 
would undoubtedly have been a good Christian man. But that 
inordinate passion for women was a fiery fiend within him, that set 
on fire every passion and propensity of the soul, and which com- 
pletely overpowered his religious nature. He could pray and sing 
like a saint, and then turn around and steal money to spend on fast 
women. Thus he was a combination of good and evil, with the 
evil predominating, and evidently inherited the two conditions 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 303 

from his parents, for they were religious persons, but probably had 
violated the sexual law, in some way, as I have described. Such 
souls are so polluted with sin and their wills are so paralyzed, that 
the gospel has little effect upon them. I do not say they cannot 
be converted, but that they are the hardest class in the world to 
convert, for there is no other sin that so drowns the sensibilities of 
the soul and makes it so careless and blind to its present and future 
condition. It is a kind of sin that acts as a cradle, which rocks and 
lulls the soul, first into a dreamy existence, and then into the slum- 
bers of eternal death from which it never wakes. But amativeness 
is perverted more or less in every person, and tends to make char- 
acter irreligious even in the milder form of its perverted condition. 
Amativeness is a part of the heart and bears the same relation to 
it that the heart does to the soul. It is the impulsive power. Our 
general character, our religion and intellectual ability, all largely 
depend on the strength and purity of the sexual feelings. Ama- 
tiveness not only keeps in operation all the powers of the soul and 
body, but the whole world. Every enterprise in life is carried on 
through its influence. It molds the character of a nation and shapes 
the destinies of mankind. So we need not wonder that it gives a 
peculiar tone or color to the religious character of men. Take 
amativeness out of the heart and religion would be lifeless, dull, 
wanting in fervor and energy. Pure amativeness will not only aid 
men in devotional exercises, but vastly enhance the enjoyment of 
it; whereas, on the other hand, it will counteract and destroy 
religious feelings and desire, in proportion as it is perverted, inflamed 
or in any way deranged. There are very many cases where the organ 
of amativeness, through excessive activity, has become abnormal, 
and the afflicted individual is not aware of it, and we need not go 
into immoral society to find such persons, either. They are all 
around us in the best and most refined circles. Deranged amative- 
ness is just as common as deranged stomachs; in fact, they often 
go together, both affecting the disposition and religious character. 
There are three ways of deranging amativeness: by too much sexual 
intercourse, by self-abuse, and by the imagination. As to the 
prevalence and injurious effects of the second evil, let the leading 
physicians of the age testify. Notwithstanding the ignorance or 
indifference and silence of parents and ministers on that subject, 
there are thousands of bright intellects stunted, and their bodies 



304 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

prostituted with weakness, through absolute slavery to this suicidal 
and soul-murdering practice. But supposing a person to be free 
from the two first causes mentioned, very few are free from the 
last, and the force of thought combined with the imagination will, 
in time, interfere with the healthy and virtuous condition of that 
organ. The Bible declares that he who "looketh upon a woman 
[that is, with an unholy, amative desire] has already committed 
adultery in his heart." How many men or women in the world 
have a clear conscience in that particular? Thoughts, then, defile 
the heart, independently of the act, and always precede the act. 
There has been no such thing as perfect purity in the amative na- 
ture of the human race since the fall of man, for even if the organ 
of amativeness is not large and active, it will be improperly influ- 
enced by some other propensity. Even the purest of women are 
not really pure, though in this respect they are more moral than 
men, but we must not be carried away with the idea that a woman 
is made out of unadulterated sweetness and virtue, however lovely, 
amiable, and externally moral she may be. I maintain, therefore, 
that the perverted action of amativeness, either through its excess, 
or the injurious influence of some other propensity upon it, hardens 
the heart against the acceptance of the gospel. Libertines do not, 
as a rule, give or do anything for the church, nor even attend it, 
unless their parents are connected with it, or there are some women 
attending it in whom they are interested and wish to become ac- 
quainted with. Preaching to them is like whistling in the woods : 
we hear the echo for a few moments, then it dies away; so the gos- 
pel thrills and echoes through their souls for the time being, and 
then fades from their memory. 

Another unfavorable condition to conversion is the senti- 
mental nature, which is particularly strong in that class whose 
characters are very moral and refined. Being about perfect, as 
far as the rectitude of good society requires, they become self- 
righteous, and their chances of conversion are more uncertain than 
those whose characters have rendered them unfit for society. Still, 
it is not altogether their own goodness that stands in the way of 
their conversion. Sentimentalism does not like things too serious, 
solid and substantial. It generally likes that which is light, tasty, 
pleasing, fascinating, amusing, sensational and emotional. Hence 
this class are invariably fond of light literature, novels — anything 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 305 

fictitious rather than solid, real and practical; fond of amusements, 
such as concerts, dancing and theatricals, either private or public. 
Being so light and fickle in their character, they allow these things 
to intoxicate them, and they become slaves to a mere fictitious, 
merry-making life. They prefer to pay some one else to amuse 
them rather than make themselves happy by the exercise of their 
own faculties. The solid truths of the Bible do not find an easy 
lodgment — are not readily received — into their dreamy minds and 
pleasure-seeking hearts. I shall not enter into a discussion of the 
right or wrong of dancing and theaters; but simply remark that 
both kinds of amusement have some qualities that are commenda- 
ble and some objectionable. There is no more harm in the act of 
dancing, in itself, than there is in walking or any kind of gymnastic 
exercise. Neither is there any harm in dramatizing human nature, 
and making fun and mirth; but considering the manner in which 
dances and theaters are conducted, and the associations connected 
with them, there is a vast amount of evil engendered by them, and 
there is a very large class of young persons whose minds are not 
strong enough to retain their balance and counteract the excite- 
ment and glittering fascinations of these amusements. Hence, it is 
evident that, either modern dancing should be practiced according 
to physiological rules and kept within decent hours, and the thea- 
ter be cleansed of its objectionable traits and used with more mod- 
eration, or those having any respect for their health, minds and 
religious character should stay away. They who are constantly 
reading light literature and attending dances and theaters are men- 
tally insipid and shallow, and have little or no taste for anything of 
a sacred nature; and if they should join some church, they never 
become active members in direct Christian work. Their feet are 
sure to run away with their brains; and though they may be, in one 
respect, ornamental members, they are certainly not useful. Danc- 
ing is a graceful, buoyant exercise, and a pretty accomplishment, 
especially for children, and a thing which many young people re- 
quire to practice to counteract their awkward, clumsy, heavy walk 
and movements. There are likewise theatrical plays free from im- 
moral taint, and containing powerful moral lessons; but the majority 
who go there never catch the spirit or moral of a play; they go, 
especially the giddy class, just for the fun of the thing. Theaters 
and dancing parties, as a rule, have degenerated from their legiti- 



306 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

mate use, and are made to feed the amative and mirthful nature of 
people in a manner not exactly chaste and edifying. 

Another objectionable and hard-to-be-conquered trait of char- 
acter growing out of the sentimental nature is the aristocratic 
feeling. Persons thus affected feel themselves about as great and 
good as the Lord himself, and they have no use for his free and 
simple salvation — they are, in their own estimation, good enough 
without it. 

The object of conversion is to change the desire, inclination and 
direction of all the faculties and propensities of the soul. It is like 
stopping a stream of water from running in its natural course, and 
turning it into a new channel, for a more convenient and better 
purpose. It is precisely the same stream, but it runs in another 
direction. So with the functions of the brain; there is no organic 
change, but a new and holier impulse given them. The same loco- 
motive can be reversed, and made to run in either direction; but it 
requires human power to do it. So with the faculties of the soul; 
their course can be reversed, but it requires Divine power and in- 
telligence to do it. But it requires something in addition to human 
intellect to reverse a locomotive or change the course of a stream, 
namely, physical means — so, in the conversion of a soul, besides, 
and in addition to, the influence of the Holy Spirit, human instru- 
mentality is necessary. As steel sharpens steel, so mind quickens 
mind, and heart acts upon heart. Two things are necessary, how- 
ever, before steel can affect steel; both must come in direct contact, 
and the sharpening piece must be bright, and free from rust. So 
he who would be instrumental in the conversion of others, must 
first get his own heart and mind in proper condition, and then 
come in personal contact with them. There are some physiologi- 
cal qualifications, which, if not absolutely essential, are certainly 
desirable, to be successful in preaching the gospel or conducting 
religious conversation. One of them is the tone and quality of the 
voice. A sweet, rich, clear, winning voice falls like music upon 
the sinner's ears, commands his attention, and carries the truth 
home to his soul. Who does not know, and who has not felt, the 
powerful and persuasive influence of the mellow voice of women ? 
I remember, just before rising one morning, hearing (through the 
open transom in the hall) a lady endeavor to awake her sleepy hus- 
band. There was nothing peculiar in the language she used; she 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 30/ 

simply said, "Leslie, Leslie, don't you know it is morning?" But 
there was something more than peculiar in the manner in which 
she said it. The clear ring of that gentle, persuasive voice has lin- 
gered in my ears ever since, and time alone can eradicate it from 
my memory. It was clear to my mind she was not seeking for a 
divorce — love dwelt in every word. There is also much impor- 
tance to be attached to the manner, style or spirit in which a thing 
is said, independent of the voice. Some ministers, having large 
firmness and considerable destructiveness, preach to their audience 
as though they were half mad, and ready to bite or eat them up. 
They press their lips tightly together after every sentence, as if to 
drive it into their hearers with a vengeance; and in an unconverted 
person, it has the effect of arousing to activity in him precisely the 
same organs, and, instead of receiving the truth, he does like the 
man represented in the fable, about whom the sun and the wind 
made a bet as to which would make him take off his coat the quick- 
est. The wind blew upon him with fury, but he only buttoned his 
coat up tighter than before; but when the warm, melting rays 
of the sun shone on him, he was glad to take it off. A harsh 
kind of preaching may scare a few weak-minded persons into relig- 
ion, but those having large combativeness, destructiveness, self-es- 
teem and firmness are self-willed and hard-hearted; hence they 
require opposite treatment — something that will quiet these organs, 
instead of exciting them. They must be won, not forced. Never- 
theless, when such persons are converted they know it and feel it; 
a terrible battle takes place in their souls, and the power of God is 
as plainly demonstrated to them as it was to Paul. 

The amount and degree of religious character and experience, 
after conversion, will depend on the size, quality and harmonious 
relation of the faculties and temperaments. That individual whose 
brain is unevenly balanced (that is, some organs large and some 
small) will be inconsistent in his character. If his veneration is 
large and benevolence small, he will pray much, but give little. If 
his veneration is large and spirituality small, he will be a doubting 
Thomas; and though he may pray, he will be too skeptical to place 
much confidence in it, and for that reason, fail to receive any direct 
blessing; and if such a person lives a divine life, it will be by grace, 
and not through faith. If veneration is large and hope deficient, he 
may make many prayers and ask for a great many things he never 



308 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

expects will be bestowed, and will often be in the slough of despond, 
questioning the genuineness of his conversion. If veneration is 
large and conscientiousness small, it would be difficult to tell 
whether he prayed and worshiped most or sinned most — would 
be indifferent to the commands and requirements of God's law and 
his obligation to the church, and be slow and insincere in repentance. 
If veneration and conscientiousness were both large, with deficient 
self-esteem, and a strong animal nature, he would be praying, sin- 
ning and repenting all the time, and his Christian course through 
life would present many ups and downs; and if, in addition, contin- 
uity and firmness were deficient, he would wander into a great 
many by-roads before he got through life's journey, and would 
probably unite with two or three different church organizations. (I 
am not referring now to persons who, through conscientious con- 
victions, make one permanent change; but to that class who, lack- 
ing principle and firmness, are, like a leaf in the air, driven about 
by every wind and wave of doctrine.) When veneration is deficient, 
the individual will not be interested in any kind of missionary work 
or direct labor for the salvation of others, nor will he be particularly 
interested in prayer-meetings. If conscientiousness is large, he 
may attend them through a sense of duty, and with large spirit- 
uality and language, pray earnestly and effectually. When self- 
esteem is large in a Christian, he is never ashamed of his religion, 
never seeks to conceal it from the knowledge of others, unless he 
is a sort of policy man, and does it through an excess of secretive- 
ness. When conscientiousness and approbativeness are large, it 
makes a person particularly sensitive as to their good name, and 
exceedingly mortified at having done wrong. With large ideality 
added, will have a strong and lingering desire for purity and per- 
fection of character; and, with large cautiousness, will carefully 
guard their actions and reputation; and, if veneration be added, will 
be constantly on the look out for new converts, or guarding those 
already converted who need watchful care. Large combativeness 
and destructiveness makes a Christian bold, fearless, and not afraid 
to express or defend the truth anywhere or under any circumstan- 
ces; when these organs are the largest and most active in the 
character, it renders them fighting Christians — that is, they are 
constantly attacking the faith and ordinances of others who do not 
agree with their religious ideas. Agreeableness makes Christians 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 309 

amiable, agreeable, lovable, pleasing and winning in their manner 
with strangers, as well as to each other; and, with secretiveness and 
human nature, gives them great tact, shrewdness, and a certain 
kind of wisdom which, I suppose, Christ alluded to when he said: 
"Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves"; but when shrewd- 
ness is used in a perverted manner, it does just such things as the 
mother of Jacob did, when, through her cunning and trickery, she 
succeeded in obtaining the blessing for her beloved son instead of 
Esau, her husband's favorite. 

It may be interesting to the reader to have a phrenological 
explanation of the three graces mentioned in the Scriptures, Faith, 
Hope and Charity; for there are no two things in the world that 
harmonize and explain each other better than phrenology and the 
religion of the Bible. On the top and center of the head are three 
organs grouped together. In the very center is veneration, and 
on the side of it hope and faith. Paul lays great stress on charity, 
which means Christian love, representing it as being the chief of 
all the graces, and next in importance to love to God; in fact, the 
Bible declares man cannot love God without loving his people. 
According to phrenology the organ of veneration is double; the 
fore part being love for the souls and the good of mankind, and the 
back part reverence, devotion and love for God; hence the fore 
part is what the Bible calls charity. Immediately in front of ven- 
eration is the organ of benevolence, from which springs what the 
world calls charity. Worldly charity and Bible charity arise from 
two different organs, and this harmonizes with the statement of 
Paul, when he says: " Though I give my body to be burned, and 
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and have not charity, I am 
nothing." The giving of his goods would be the action of benevo- 
lence, while having charity would come through veneration. So a 
person having large benevolence may give freely, but if his vener- 
ation is deficient he is lacking in love or charity. These three 
organs constitute the essence of religion, and are the foundation of 
religious character. There are no three faculties in the soul that 
render man so unspeakably happy as the proper and united exer- 
cise of faith, hope and charity, when equally developed. Faith, or 
spirituality, brings man into unison with the Holy Spirit; venera- 
tion with the Father; and hope with the Son; hence man is saved 
by the exercise of faith, hope and charity, in a converted state. 



310 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

Faith comes from the organ of spirituality, and this is the organ 
through which men are inspired by God to do his work. It is the 
organ of inspiration through which the whole Bible was written. 
It imparts an internal perception of truth, enabling men to discern 
and accept the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is the spiritual eye 
through which they see into the far-off land. It is the faculty 
through which the prophets received their knowledge of future 
events, interpreted dreams and saw visions. It is this which im- 
presses thousands of persons at the present day with premonitions 
of what is about to take place, and acts as their guiding star, when 
they faithfully follow its impressions. These impressions, however, 
though similar in some respects, are not exactly the same as those 
which come from the organ of human nature; they relate more to 
worldly affairs. Hope is to the soul what blood is to the body; 
life without it would be sad and gloomy. For, as the health of 
the body and vigor of the mind will depend upon the quality 
and purity of the blood, so will the Christian's happiness depend 
upon the vigor and perfection of this hope. Hope gives joy, ani- 
mation, contentment, and the assurance of receiving what the 
soul through faith sees, and through charity loves. It enables 
one to bear up under adversity, to meet the storms and battles of 
life with calmness and resignation, and helps the Christian to take 
up his cross and bear it without grumbling. Veneration reveres, 
adores and loves. Without it man is a blank in the spiritual world, 
having no one to love, and none to love him. It is the emotional 
part of the spiritual nature — the heart of religion, without which 
man is friendless. 

As Paul declared charity to be the greatest of all the Christian 
graces, so the phrenological organ of veneration, from which it 
springs, occupies the most exalted position in the brain, and sheds 
the most sacred and elevating influence upon the character. 

Christians will have different desires toward, and ideas of, 
heaven, in proportion to the diversity of the phrenological organs 
and temperaments. Religion is always modified by the channel 
through which it comes. People's conceptions of heaven will be as 
different as their tastes. Every soul or mind will have or picture a 
heaven of its own. Those having large veneration will always as- 
sociate, with their thoughts of Heaven, holiness and love, and their 
chief desire to be there will be the joy of being with their Redeemer, 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 311 

whom they love and worship. Those who have large ideality 
will picture heaven to their minds as a place where everything is 
lovely, beautiful and pure — as the abode of angels and a land of 
pure delight, and, with the addition of large continuity, rejoice in 
the idea of unending pleasure. If approbativeness is large, their 
aim will be to shine forth as stars of the first magnitude; they will 
think much about the glory, majesty and splendor of Jehovah, and 
how they themselves will be arrayed in the glory and beauty of 
heaven. Those having large sublimity will delight in the magnifi- 
cence, magnitude and grandeur of heaven; their ideas concerning it 
will be lofty and romantic. They who have large firmness will 
rejoice in Heaven as being unchangeable, a place that will endure 
throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. He who has large con- 
scientiousness will be happy in the thought that he will be free 
from sin, and that there righteousness, justice, truth and equity 
reign supreme. One who has large benevolence will delight in the 
idea of being free from all kinds of pain, suffering, sorrow, and 
everything that has made the heart sad in this life. Those with 
large intellectual endowments will regard it as a new field for in- 
vestigation, study and the acquirement of knowledge; that there 
they will . know what they never thought of here, and see clearly 
what before appeared dimly, as through a vail or colored glass. 
They who have a strong amative and somewhat indolent or volup- 
tuous nature, will regard heaven as a land of luxurious repose, a 
place of enchanted bliss, a land of fairies possessing exquisite beauty, 
a place where they can bask in perpetual pleasure and drink from 
the fountain of love. 

Christian character is discernible in the countenance. I do not 
say that just as soon as one is converted, it is shown in the face, 
because there has not been time for the change in the exercise of 
the faculties to be impressed upon the features. But he who, from 
the time of his conversion, has been constantly exercising the 
Christian graces — he in whose soul the work of sanctification has 
been going on — will as clearly show it in his facial expression as 
he will any condition of the mind or trait of character. It is im- 
possible for the soul to possess a thing without manifesting it. 
Absolute concealment is contrary to its nature. Character will 
express itself in some form, especially the most important part of 
man's character — religion. The Bible says, "By their fruits ye 



312 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

shall know them" — that is, by their works and actions; because 
they are the easiest to understand. For instance, any person 
knows what apples are; and if they see apples on a tree, they know 
immediately and positively, without any process of reasoning, that 
that is an apple tree. But if not accustomed to seeing that kind 
of tree, they may not be able to recognize it without the presence 
of fruit; whereas they who are familiar with the form and general 
appearance of apple trees could distinguish them from others sim- 
ply by their looks. The Bible has given the simplest and safest 
mode of reading Christian character — one which every person, 
learned or unlearned, cannot fail to understand and apply. But 
they who study appearances — the expressions of the mind as pic- 
tured in the countenance — can recognize Christian character 
independent of its fruits. For the Bible does not say that is the 
only way to know; in fact, it makes frequent allusion to physiog- 
nomy, and the writings of Solomon are full of them. The difference 
in the two modes of reading character is this : To read by the fruit 
(taking for granted that every person knows the kind or nature of 
the fruit) requires simply observation; to read by the expression of 
the face requires knowledge, combined with observation. 

Phrenology unfolds and reveals the true meaning of the Scrip- 
tures very clearly, and its principles and doctrines are in perfect 
harmony. The writings of Paul are full of the philosophy of phre- 
nology, and even the teachings of Christ seem to be based on its 
metaphysics. Take, for illustration, the parable of the sower. 
Having spoken to the Jews in a literal manner, Christ explained to 
his disciples the spiritual meaning of it. The seed that fell by the 
wayside represented those who heard the Word, but understood it 
not; meaning, phrenologically, that class whose hearts, through 
vice, have been so hardened, and their minds or judgment so cor- 
rupted and blinded, that they cannot recognize, perceive, discern, 
comprehend or feel the reality of the truth : and like as the wayside 
was made hard by travel and the heat of the sun, so that the seed 
could not possibly take root, so the heat of passion and constant 
exercise and familiarity of the soul with sin, prevents the lodg- 
ment and reception of the truth. Neither have such persons any 
conception of the nature and pleasure of religion. Hence the seed 
of truth falls upon the heart only to be repelled and finally destroyed 
by Satanic power. The seed that fell in stony places represents 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 313 

that class in whom the Word is received, and whom it affects only 
in their moral and sentimental nature; it does not sink into the 
heart, consequently they are merely fair-weather Christians, having 
the appearance of religion without depth or substance. They are 
like a house built upon the sand, which the floods will sweep away. 
Their piety consists in profession rather than possession; they are 
too shallow and superficial to endure trial and adversity. That 
which fell among thorns refers to that class in whom the selfish 
propensities are predominant, especially acquisitiveness. The love 
of wealth, worldly prosperity, etc., overpowers the love of truth, 
and their religion in time is choked or extinguished. That which 
fell into good ground illustrates those in whom the religious nature 
is predominant; they receive the Word for the love of it; the whole 
soul imbibes it, the spiritual nature believes it, and the heart and 
mind accepts, discerns and comprehends it — feels its power, is led 
by its influence, and treasures it up in the innermost chambers of 
the soul as a jewel of great price. Those only are genuine Chris- 
tians who receive the truth and bury it in their hearts, and in whom 
the work of sanctification goes on. The first class made no preten- 
sions or professions of religion; the second and third classes, the 
sentimental and selfish (represented in the parable by the stony 
and thorny ground), profess, but are nothing but hypocrites; relig- 
ion never gets into their hearts, sanctification never begins its work, 
and so they perish through the force of external circumstances and 
internal weakness. There are four classes represented in the par- 
able as hearing the Word; three of them profess to accept it, but 
only one out of the four hold on to it, and endure to the end. 
Thus phrenology and the Scriptures both clearly show that there 
are a good many persons professing Christianity upon whose fore- 
heads may be written the word hypocrisy, and that they belong to 
the rich, sentimental and moral classes of society. 

Perhaps the reader may ask, Is it possible to be truly converted, 
and finally lost? Christ's parable of the prodigal son says, No. 
For the prodigal does not represent exclusively an unconverted 
person, but a Christian. He was a member of the family just as 
much as his brother who went not astray. Thus the prodigal rep- 
resents a Christian, a converted person, who has besetting sins--. 
one who has some passion not subdued; it may be for drink or 
women, or both. Temptation leads him astray for a time, but 



314 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

finally something causes him to reflect, repent, and return to his 
first love. It may be that his sinful career has impoverished him 
financially, or his conscience has goaded him, or the Spirit of God 
has specially arrested his attention and checked him in his down- 
ward course. It matters not by what means he is made to reflect, 
the fact is just the same; having wandered in the broad ways of sin 
till his heart and soul has become sick and weary, he awakes, 
realizes his perilous condition, and is glad enough to return to his 
father's home, where, through self-denial and obedience, he can 
dwell in peace and eat of the fruits of righteousness. Some suppose 
this parable was intended to represent the Jewish nation and the 
Gentiles; perhaps it does; but there is yet a more important, com- 
prehensive and philosophical meaning to be derived from it — one 
which, to my mind explains the doctrine of election, falling from 
grace, free agency, the power and office of the human will, and the 
last link in the process of conversion. Christ's conversation with 
Nicodemus has taught us that conversion is produced by some 
external power, which is imperceptible in its operations to our ex- 
ternal senses. All we know about it, or realize, is its presence and 
effects. He has further told us, in the parable of the sower, that 
the seed sown (or change produced by conversion) takes place in 
the heart; and his description of the prodigal shows us how the will 
is affected and changed. Thus we see that, in conversion, three 
things are embraced, and are necessary to salvation: the awakening 
and quickening of the spiritual nature, a change of heart, and the 
subjugation and inclination of the will. Let us inquire, first, what 
the will is. Phrenologically, it arises from the organ of firmness, 
and its location seems to indicate its authority over the whole brain. 
Suppose we illustrate the office of the will, in its relation to the soul, 
by a court of justice. The criminal is our conduct, character, or 
sinful nature. The witnesses are our perceptive faculties; those or- 
gans by which we observe and gather knowledge, and become 
acquainted with facts. The lawyers are our reflective faculties by 
which we reason, argue, analyze and draw inferences. The jury is 
our conscience, which listens to the arguments, pro and con, of the 
intellect, decides upon the merits of the case, perceives what is 
right and wrong, prompts the desire for justice and penitence, and 
renders the verdict. The judge is our will, which, in accordance 
with the verdict of the conscience, gives the decision, puts the law 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 315 

of our mind into operation, becomes the effective, efficient power, 
and determines our future course of action, by changing our minds 
from one subject or pursuit to another, and turning our whole at- 
tention and life into another direction. But the freedom and power 
of our will is limited. It is confined within the limits or sphere 
assigned to human nature, and is, therefore, subject to the laws of 
God, whether natural or spiritual. We can only will to do what 
the constitution of our bodies and minds permits us to do. We 
cannot will to fly or to fall down a hundred feet without being hurt, 
because the law of gravitation prevents us. We cannot will to live 
two hundred years, because natural laws, which decompose and 
consume our bodies, prevent us. Hence, free-will consists in a man 
doing just what he pleases within the legitimate circle of his lim- 
ited ability. Just the same as a judge may have the power to 
sentence a man to the penitentiary for a term of years, between 
seven and fourteen, as directed by the law of the land, and can ex- 
ercise his will as to the number of years between these two extremes, 
yet he cannot, and dare not, go under or over the term fixed by 
law; so that his free-will is limited by two points. The case of the 
prodigal illustrates the action of the will in conversion, and the free 
agency of man in wandering from, and returning to, God. The 
prodigal was free to leave his father's home, go where he chose, and 
do just as he pleased. His career likewise shows that, to a certain 
extent, man is the creature of circumstances; for, it is not likely 
that, when he left his father's home, he willed or intended to return 
again; but the circumstances attending his life caused him to 
change his will. If prosperity had attended him continually, in- 
stead of famine and hunger, we may presume he would not have 
sought his father's home again. We see, then, that the free-will of 
the prodigal was governed by circumstances, and, as I shall proceed 
to show, was limited in power or freedom. For notwithstanding 
he was free to leave his home, free to roam and dissipate, free to 
return, and free to seek his father's forgiveness, he was not free to 
will his acceptance or forgiveness. Just there his free-will ended. 
He had freedom, in one sense, to sin; but his pardon depended upon 
the will of another. The difference between the will of God and 
the will of man is this: God's will is absolute, unlimited and unre- 
strained; man's will is conditional, limited, circumscribed: and like 
as the thing made is subject to the will of its maker, so the will of 



316 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

man is subject to the will of God and to his laws and commandments. 
Our freedom, morally, consists in doing whatever we please, pro- 
viding we do not violate any moral law or command of God. 

There is yet another difference: the will of God is positive or 
self-acting; it acts without being moved upon by any higher power 
or influence. The will of man is passive; its action depends upon 
external circumstances and influences, producing internal impres- 
sions. Therefore, whatever affects the condition and circumstances 
of man's life will modify and change his will. Hence, changeable- 
ness of the human will depends on the diversity of the impressions 
made upon it; and the different impressions are produced through 
the different organs of the brain, so that whatever organ or faculty 
is active, for the time being, determines the action of the will. For 
instance, a man passing through his neighbor's orchard, not feeling 
really hungry for apples, and having large, active conscientiousness, 
feels sensitive about taking any apples without permission. The 
next day he passes through again, and this time he is very hungry, 
and the pleading of his alimentiveness for something to eat is 
stronger and more active than conscientiousness; so his will de- 
termines to do what the day before he would not do. And in so 
doing, he acted like David, when, through hunger, he ate the 
shew-bread, which the spirit of the law allowed, but the letter of it 
forbade; and also like Christ, who plucked ears of corn on the 
Sabbath-day to satisfy his hunger. And inasmuch as man cannot 
regulate and control (only in a partial manner) the circumstances 
of his life, neither can he determine or will just what he will do. 
Here, then, is the doctrine of election. The will of man, being 
passive, cannot will to be saved — cannot will to change his will. 
In other words, he has not power to change himself. His will must 
be turned about, reversed, and changed in its character by a supe- 
rior will, the will of God, which willed man's will into existence. 
Hence the will of God, being absolutely free and superior, and the 
salvation of man depending upon the exercise and influence of the 
Divine will upon his own, it is evident he cannot be saved, unless 
God so wills to change the nature and character of his will, and 
bring it into harmony with his own. For, like the prodigal, man 
has the power to break away from the will of God, to pass over the 
boundary line of his moral freedom, but, in so doing, he snaps 
asunder the tie of affinity that holds human will in unison with 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 317 

the Divine will. Hence, the union being cut off, he is unable to 
return, or even will to return. He has lost his freedom and his 
power. He has cut the telegraph wire and broken the communi- 
cation, and cannot re-establish it, except the free-will of God so 
disposes, and again makes the connection. And if God wills to save 
a sinner, he will not only meet him while he is a great way off, but 
will implant within him a desire to return and be saved. And if 
one whom he has already called and accepted should wander away, 
he will be sure to go after him, and bring him back. When the 
Lord elects and converts, he saves. He never begins a work and 
leaves it half-finished. God does not convert a man, and then leave 
him to go back to the Devil and his kingdom. Whom he wants, he 
calls; and whom he calls, he saves. Those who are not wanted, he 
does not call; and those who are not called will never seek salva- 
tion, nor will they have any desire to do so. The Scriptures declare, 
"He that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out": that is true. 
God will never reject any who earnestly seek salvation; but, like 
the prodigal, they must manifest a desire to be saved, and come. 
Salvation is conditional and limited. God does not invite every- 
body in the world to come. There is no passage in the Bible that 
contains any such invitation. Let us look at two or three of the 
most cordial invitations, and see: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
come ye to the waters," etc. Now, mark the language and meaning 
of that passage. It does not say "come" to every person in the 
world, but to "every one that thirsteth." Hence the invitation is 
limited to those who are thirsting for salvation, and those who are 
not thirsty are not invited; and as their will is not absolutely free, 
they cannot will themselves to be thirsty. It is likewise evident 
that they who are not thirsty will not desire to drink, much less 
come to partake of the water. It was the hunger and wretchedness 
of the prodigal that first gave him the desire, and then prompted 
him to return; but he did not will to become hungry. It was 
circumstances over which he had no control that rendered him 
thus. Another quotation reads: "Come unto me all ye that are 
weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Here again the 
invitation and promise is conditional and limited. It illustrates 
another phase in the life of the prodigal. So long as he was pros- 
perous, he was apparently happy, and needed no such invitation — 
had no desire to change his mode of life; but when he became 



318 MODERN CHRISTIANITY AND 

weary with labor and heavy laden with trouble and sin, then he 
saw his condition and longed for salvation. It is to such persons 
only that the above invitation and promise is made. What would 
be the use of offering- food and drink to one who is neither hungry 
nor thirsty? or rest to one who is not tired? Having no desire for 
either, they have no will to take or accept it; neither can they will 
to have a will. We are also told in Scripture that "He that hungers 
and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled": another conditional 
promise. For it does not say every person shall be filled, only 
those who hunger and thirst; and it is self-evident that all do not 
hunger and thirst, because some are already filled. It would be 
absurd to think of filling a, vessel with water that was already filled, 
no matter whether it be filled with water or any other liquid. 
Neither has the vessel any power to empty itself. So with man. 
If his soul is full of righteousness, it will not hunger or thirst. 
Neither can it desire to be filled with righteousness, if it is full ol 
sin. Neither has man the will to empty his soul of sin, so as to 
create an appetite for righteousness. Take another passage: "God 
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life." 
People generally single out the word whosoever, and make it mean 
any and every person in the world; but according to the sense of 
the verse, we must add to it one other word; then it reads whoso- 
ever believeth, and these two words are inseparably connected. We 
know that every person does not, and will not, believe. Hence the 
statement is limited, and the death of Christ was conditional — not 
for the whole world, but for those only who believe. To say that 
the death of Christ was for every person in the world, is to assert 
that man can be saved without believing. We know that the abso- 
lute perfection of Divinity will not permit him to say or do anything 
in vain. Hence to say that God loved every person in the world, 
and that Christ died for every person in the world, is to say that 
his life and death were in vain; because all are not saved. Where 
there is love there is affinity, and where there is affinity there is 
union of soul, and when these three conditions exist between God 
and his creatures, there is election and salvation. What the heart 
loves, it wants; and whoever God loves, he wants. On one occa- 
sion, when Christ was addressing his Father, he said: "I pray not 
for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given me." If he had 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 319 

died for the world, why not pray for them? Again: What idea 
does a present convey, but selection and election? — selected from 
other things, and elected as the present? 

I have thus far endeavored to show that man's salvation depends 
on something more than the invitations of the gospel; that he has 
not the will, and cannot will to have a will that will make him re- 
turn and accept the proffered salvation; and that will must be given 
him from above, in connection with, and in addition to, the invita- 
tion of the Word. We are told, "God willeth not the death of the 
sinner." Man wills his own death — that is, he wills to do certain 
things that are sinful, and the wages of sin is death. But he cannot 
will his salvation; God must do that; and it is a matter of free-will 
on the part of God whether he does or not. Here, for instance, is 
a murderer; he does not directly will his own death, but he willed 
to commit an act the penalty of which is the forfeiture of his own 
life. He has violated law, abused his free-will, and exercised it in 
an illegitimate manner. His free-will went beyond the boundary 
of its legitimate sphere, and destroyed itself; hence he cannot re- 
cross that boundary line, and will his own salvation. Man is free, 
in every respect, to live in an atmosphere of certain specific gravity, 
and, as far as his will is concerned, he is free, in one respect, to 
transport himself to an atmosphere too rare to sustain animal life; 
but he is not free to live there, and, once there, he is not free to 
return again, because he has placed himself in an unnatural condi- 
tion, where he has lost his freedom. Man is free to enjoy health, 
so long as he does not violate any law that regulates health; he 
also has the power to violate these laws, if he so chooses, but he is 
no longer free from disease. But, while the murderer does not 
intentionally will his own death, nor the governor of the State will 
the death of any criminal, yet he can, by the exercise of the free- 
will pertaining to his office, will his salvation or allow him to take 
the punishment which the law demands. So with regard to God 
and the sinner. He does not will his death, but the sinner, by will- 
ing to do sinful acts, kills himself. Still, he may will the salvation 
of a sinner, or allow him to suffer the consequences of violated law; 
and it is the free-will of God to do just what he pleases. 

Man's will depends, to a great extent, upon his feelings, or the 
condition of his heart. When the heart is hard, the will is stub- 
born; when the heart is soft, the will is submissive. The natural 



320 . MODERN CHRISTIANITY. 

heart is at enmity with God; hence its will rebels, and will not 
yield to the will of God. Man will not accept the invitation of the 
gospel until the spirit, grace and love of God has brought him, like 
the prodigal, to first see and feel his true condition, convicting him 
of sin, and thus softening his heart and really changing his will 
against his will. Suppose some gentleman was to give a great 
dinner or supper, and it happened that every person he sent an 
invitation to hated him and was at enmity with him, how many 
would accept the invitation and be at the supper? Not one. He 
would first have to remove the feeling of enmity by some means, 
and restore friendship and reconciliation, before they would comply 
with his request. So God has to remove the feeling of enmity and 
hatred in the heart of man before he will have any will, inclination 
or disposition to accept his free salvation. He must first court or 
make love to the sinner, or the sinner will never seek after him. 
And God makes love to whomsoever he will; and this is what is 
termed election. 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 



Diversities of Mind and their Causes — A Reason for Men being Skeptics — Two General 
Causes — Difference Between Skepticism and Infidelity — Infidel Character — An Old 
Infidel in Iowa — The Bible and Phrenology — The Conceited Infidel — The Lawyer 
Infidel — What Skeptics are Like — What Skepticism Does — The Narrow- Mindedness 
of Skeptics — My Experience Among Free-Thinkers — The World Without a Bible — 
Unbalanced Minds — What led me to Investigate Infidelity — My Discovery of its 
Cause — In What it Consists^ — The Facial Expression of Skeptics and Infidels — Is a 
Man Responsible for What he is or Believes — How we may Become more Perfect 
— The Case of Socrates and the Physiognomist — How the Skeptic Misuses his 
Faculties — The Skeptic's Religion — Religious Ignorance and Inconsistency — Chris- 
tianity Caricatured — How Intelligent Beings are Governed — Ingersoll and his Illus- 
tration— Its Fallacy — Why the Infidel is Opposed to God's Spiritual Government — 
What Constitutes a Christian— Position of the Organs of the Brain and their Rela- 
tion to Character — Why Scientific Men are often Skeptics — Cause of Materialism 
and Rationalism — Why God is an Object of Worship to us — Why Many Reject 
Christ's Divinity — Imitation and the Character it Imparts — Cause of Plagiarism — 
What Modifies a Man's Faith — The Skeptical Preacher — Physiognomical Evidence 
of Christianity— The Young Lady with fine Religious Head and Character — Rela- 
tion Between Soul and Body — The Engrafting of Religion into the Heart — The 
Difference Between the Christian and Man of the World — Internal and External 
Agencies in Forming Character— Hereditary Influence before Birth — Parental Influ- 
ence after Birth — The Preacher who Whipped his Child to Death — The Mistake of 
Parents — Long Sermons and Services — Children great Imitators — Skeptical Influ- 
ence of some Books and Lectures — Newsdealers and their Perverted Tastes — The 
Church partly Responsible for Skepticism — My own Experience — Social System of 
Churches Wrong — Poor Teachers in Sabbath-Schools — Church Fairs and Theatrical 
Performances in Churches — Mean Christians — Bare-faced Preachers. 



I PROPOSE to discuss this subject chiefly on a physiognomical 
and phrenological basis, and not simply from a theological point of 
view. That has been done already. There is a cause for every 
thing that exists, not only in the material world, but the immate- 
rial as well. The diversities that exist in mind and matter are not 
accidents, but the results of cause and effect. Diversity in matter 
is produced by different kinds and proportions of atoms, and diver- 
sity of mind springs from a diversity of faculties and their combi- 
nation. Hence all men do not and cannot think, feel or see things 
alike, because their minds and bodies are not constituted alike. 



322 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

There is a cause and a reason for men being infidels or skeptics on 
the same principle that there is a reason for a man being a religion- 
ist, a moralist, a philanthropist, a spiritualist, a rationalist, an 
inventor, sculptor or artist — a good man or a bad man. There is a 
cause for one man being larger than another in body and brain; 
for one man being a genius and another a fool. A cause for 
changes in the weather, for one part of the globe being hotter than 
another; a cause for mountains and valleys, for rivers, lakes and 
oceans. And if there are causes for these physical changes and 
this diversity of appearance in the form and surface of the earth, 
why not a cause for the differences in character, belief, desires, 
inclinations, and mental manifestations in general, especially as 
man is the most perfect and certainly the highest type of all cre- 
ated beings or things in this terrestrial globe. Variety is a law of 
nature, and it is undoubtedly a spiritual and mental law as well; 
hence there is hardly any limit to the variety and diversity of char- 
acter. And the finer the organization and the higher the culture, 
the greater the difference. Each character will, as a result, see 
things of a worldly and spiritual nature in a different light ; will 
think, feel, act, believe or disbelieve, according to the peculiar 
structure of the mind and body, and the relation each sustains to 
the other. There are inherited and inherent diversities of charac- 
ter, and there are educational and national or climatic diversities; 
the national differences being caused chiefly by climate and tem- 
perature. 

There are two reasons or causes for men becoming infidels and 
skeptics. One is hereditary, the other educational and circum- 
stantial. Infidels are so chiefly by inborn peculiarities, and skep- 
tics by circumstances, influences and education, although skepticism 
may be hereditary. 

Skepticism is the forerunner of infidelity; the two occupying 
about the same relation to each other that a severe cold does to 
consumption. Skepticism is like impurity in the blood. Infidelity 
is the effete matter culminating in a given point and breaking out 
into a boil. In other words, infidelity is matured and condensed 
skepticism. In some respects infidelity is the worse mental dis- 
order of the two, and in other respects skepticism is, because the 
latter extends over a broader field and creates general doubt in 
reference to everything that does not strike the possessor just 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 323 

right ; and the former is more objectionable because of its chronic 
condition and deep-seated hold upon the mind, and the positive 
attitude it causes the individual to assume. A man may wander 
into the great desert of skepticism without being a confirmed infi- 
del, but an infidel is always a skeptic. Skepticism is the act ol 
questioning without positively denying the truth of a thing or 
statement — a turning of things over in the mind, a looking back, a 
restless, uneasy investigation of things without coming to any 
clear, definite, satisfactory opinion or conviction ; a sort of meta- 
physical suspicion and uncertainty, a wrestling of the mind with 
moral and spiritual problems it cannot solve. Infidelity is a state 
where the mind has passed through the ordeal, and, still in the fog of 
doubt and despair, has settled down into a spiritual swamp, content- 
ed to believe a lie because it cannot or will not discern the truth. 

Skeptics and infidels are much like Peter in one or two respects, 
they all want to walk upon the water, but the moment they step 
upon the liquid path they sink. They are all as conceited as that 
gentleman was full of self-assurance and positive assertions; they 
can boast of what they will do and will not do in times of danger, 
but put one of them out in mid-ocean on a wrecked steamer, with 
death staring him in the face and he will probably be one of the 
first on his knees to pray for protection; though you could not 
make him believe anything in prayer while on land or out of dan- 
ger. A confirmed infidel is one of the most uneasy and unhappy 
mortals one could wish to meet; he may not admit it, nay, may 
even positively deny it, because he really does not know the differ- 
ence between the state of his own mind and that of others; but I 
never yet met an infidel with whom I have conversed, who did not 
manifest a dissatisfied and unhappy state of mind. One can scarcely 
be in their presence five minutes in a social way, before their con- 
versation will turn to the discussion of religious subjects. I remem- 
ber an old gentleman in Iowa, who, though in fair circumstances in 
life, was a very unhappy man. He believed in phrenology, and as I 
was lecturing there he came to hear me and invited me to take tea 
with him two or three times, which I did; but I would not be in the 
house many minutes before his conversation would drift into infidel 
notions, yea, even into atheism. He could not understand how I, 
being a phrenologist and physiognomist, could endorse Christianity. 
He thought phrenology taught materialism and infidelity, but that is 



324 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

where he, as well as many others, make a mistake. The teachings 
of phrenology and the Bible are in perfect harmony, because Bible 
truth is founded on mental and moral science, or phrenological and 
physiognomical science, that being the only true science of the 
mind. And if the physical and mental laws, as taught by phren- 
ology, were properly understood and faithfully carried out in regard 
to restraining and developing the excesses and deficiences of char- 
acter, and using each faculty and organ in a healthy manner, it 
would lead a man up to a perfect standard of life and character. 
I met another man in Iowa who was an infidel, and he was just as 
uneasy as a tied-up pup. I could hardly keep him away from my 
place of business, and being a source of annoyance, I finally looked 
at him, and remarked, "You are conceited, and want to bring the 
Almighty down to your standard of reason and judgment." That 
seemed to stagger him, and he walked away and troubled me no 
more. Traveling on through the state I met another infidel, a law- 
yer. He opened out on me something like this: "How much of 
the Bible do you believe?" I replied, "I believe the whole of it or 
none at all." "Well, do you believe that story about the whale 
swallowing Jonah?" "Certainly," said I, "why not?" and that is 
about the way with infidels and skeptics generally. They want to 
tear the Bible in pieces and take just what suits them, and throw 
the rest away. They are spiritual burglars, who would like to break 
into the domains of the Almighty and take just what they please, 
and leave what they did not want; just as thieves do when they 
ransack a store or safe. They are God-forsaken, lawless, spiritual 
outcasts, and are just as miserable as the outcasts of business and 
social society. 

I would not be an infidel for all the wealth of the world. Infi- 
dels are enemies to society and the country in which they live; they 
demoralize the young and blast their hopes; pull down the pillars 
of the aged, and strive to rob the world of its brightest gems of 
literature, and the grandest and purest code of morals it has ever 
seen. Skeptics are something like lost sheep, wandering through 
the world's wilderness, not knowing whither to go or where to rest. 
Their souls are like the troubled ocean, and about as easily lashed 
into fury by the tempests of life. No bright guiding star lights up 
their path or cheers their despondent spirits; they have nothing 
but the darkness of doubt and uncertainty through which they can 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 325 

not see. Skepticism weakens the moral principles, and thereby 
removes the partition or dividing line between virtue and vice. 
Did you ever meet or know a skeptic or infidel, that had not an easy- 
going, extremely liberal and rather slippery kind of conscience ? 
I do not mean business dishonesty or criminal offences against their 
fellow-men, but a sort of indifference to truth, purity and right- 
eousness, a disposition to yield to the pleasurable desires of the 
soul, a dislike, and sometimes even a positive hatred, for moral 
restraint from any external source that does not harmonize with 
their tastes and reason. 

They think they are liberal, broad and comprehensive in their 
views, but they are really just the opposite. They are narrow- 
minded and very limited in their ideas, as all men must be who 
cannot see anything beyond this earth and a mere animal exist- 
ence for the whole human family. And their prejudices are just as 
strong as any other class of people toward whatever theories are 
in conflict with their own. I got in among a crowd of free-think- 
ers one evening when they were discussing the subject of taxing 
church buildings, if I remember right. I was asked to express my 
opinion upon the subject, which I did, and the member who rose to 
speak after me, and took the opposite side of the question, looked 
and talked as though he would like to make mince-meat of me, so 
bitter were his feelings against churches. If this class of men 
could have their way we would soon have no Bible, no Sabbath, no 
churches, no Jesus, no God, nor anything to guide, control and 
restrain us from sin and misery but blind, fickle, human reason, 
which would not be the same in any two persons. Can any man 
or woman imagine or conceive what kind of a world this would be 
with such a state of society? Talk about devils and hell; this 
world and life would be hell enough, because every man would very 
soon be a devil to himself and to everybody around him. Some 
of my readers may laugh at such an idea, but all I ask you to .do is 
to stop, think, calculate, turn over the pages of history, study the 
habits, intelligence and morals of nations without a Bible, even 
where they worship a Supreme Being, which the infidels or a nation 
of infidels would not do, because they worship nothing but reason. 
Look at the passions and propensities of men in a civilized land 
under moral and religious restraint, and surely no prophetic vision is 
required, nothing beyond ordinary perception, to see what a cess- 



326 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

pool of iniquity this globe would soon become if no God, no Jesus, 
no Bible reigned in the hearts and minds of men. How long, think 
you, would the sanctity of the marriage tie and family circle last? 
and when that was broken down, the race would soon go down to 
the level of lustful apes, dogs, rabbits and hogs. I mean they 
would be as amorous and promiscuous, and most likely more 
ungovernable than the above-named brutes, for reason would soon 
be dethroned and the utter ruin of the race follow, as in the days 
of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Unless the chastity of women is preserved and men's passions 
restrained and purified through the laws of marriage, no nation can 
long exist. Take away the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ 
and the whole fabric of the marriage institution falls to the ground. 
Then go a step farther, and take away from men's minds the idea 
of reward and punishment, of accountability to their Creator, and 
tell me, please, what is to cheek the already perverted and burning 
passions of mankind? Or, to put it in another way, if you cease 
to exercise the upper part of the brain, what is to control or bal- 
ance the preponderance of brain in the lower and posterior part of 
the skull? Right here is where infidels and skeptics make a terri- 
ble mistake, and are as blind as men without eyes. No man can 
have a clear or right thinking mind while part of his faculties lie 
dormant. The even and continued exercise of the whole is what 
makes a well-balanced mind. The infidel is deficient in both brain 
and mind, and is, therefore, an imperfect and decidedly one-sided 
individual, which I propose to illustrate and, I think, prove in this 
treatise. 

I used to think, before I had traveled sufficiently to bring me 
personally in contact with the world and its many varieties of 
human life and character, that the clergymen were fighting an 
imaginary evil in preaching so much on infidelity. I did not think 
there were half as many infidels and skeptics as there are; but I soon 
learned that there are a good many of the former and a multitude 
of the latter. In fact the church itself has a good many skeptics 
within its borders, and some of them even in the pulpit. My atten- 
tion was more particularly called to this subject when I began my 
career as a phrenologist. I had to face this difficulty, and some- 
times this matter would be brought up in a public meeting as a test 
of my skill as a delineator. The first case I remember was that of 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 327 

a middle-aged gentleman who called at my office for an examina- 
tion. I told him he had a large amount of veneration and ought 
to be interested in religious work. He said that was just what he 
did not believe in, and it was a puzzle to me at the time to under- 
stand how a man with so much of the faculty of veneration as he 
certainly had should be so skeptical; but I soon saw, after a little 
reflection, that a man may have a faculty to revere, respect, obey, 
submit, yield, or be of a humble mind, without having a disposition 
to believe and trust what they could not see or understand. I con- 
cluded, therefore, that infidelity and skepticism came from deficient 
faith. After awhile I was examining the head of another old gen- 
tleman, and I told him he had large faith. He said he did not 
understand that, for he had no faith in the Bible, Jesus Christ, or 
even the Almighty. This puzzled me again, for I saw that neither 
large veneration nor faith was proof against skepticism or infidelity. 
(I am speaking now of the organs of veneration and faith, com- 
monly called spirituality.) The following Sunday I went to church 
and saw just ahead of me this same infidel whom I had examined. 
He evidently had faith of some kind, and seemed to believe what I 
had told him. I sat and looked at him and asked myself, what 
makes that man an infidel ? for he was the worst case I ever met, 
being an atheist as well. In noticing the upper and forepart of his 
head, all at once, as if by inspiration, the cause of infidelity flashed 
across my mind, and repeated observations and experimental tests 
in the line of my profession have convinced me of the truth of my 
discovery. I saw that he, as well as many other infidels and skep- 
tics, had large reason, but were deficient in that part of the brain 
where phrenologists locate imitation, the faculty that copies ideas 
and character, as well as actions and objects in life; which enables 
one to assume the character and actions of another, to conform to 
the life, habits and customs of others. Now, being deficient in 
imitative power, he had no desire to conform to or adopt the teach- 
ings, life or character of any other being, either terrestrial or celes- 
tial; and having large reason, it led him to the other extreme of 
rejecting everything he could not understand, and as that faculty 
also plans, puts things together, and in a measure originates, he 
naturally became his own counselor, built up a system of philoso- 
phy which carried him into impenetrable and unfathomable myste- 
ries, descended into depths and ascended to heights of speculation 



328 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

that were altogether beyond finite reason, and between these two 
extremes he lost his mental balance, as all eccentric persons do. 
Hence, in that respect, he was about as crazy as a lunatic. He had 
not only made himself miserable, but his whole family; so much so 
that they could hardly live with him. And I am not sure but the 
best name you can give to infidelity is to call it moral insanity, 
and a regular infidel a moral lunatic. 

All skeptics and infidels have a peculiar expression to their 
faces as well as peculiarly shaped heads. The head and facial ex- 
pression of a regular infidel is no more like that of a genuine 
Christian than chalk is like cheese; and if you were to compare the 
head and face of an intelligent man with an inherited religious 
nature and a well developed Christian character, with one who was 
born with a skeptical nature and by education had developed into 
a thorough infidel or atheist, a mere novice in physiognomy could 
discern the difference and tell one from the other. This is not a 
matter of opinion, it is a fact, and facts are stubborn things Avhich 
no subtle reasoning or philosophy can successfully controvert or 
overcome. But, perhaps, my reader is ready to exclaim by this 
time, that if this doctrine or idea as to the cause of infidelity is 
true, that is, if the shape of a man's head and face has anything to 
do with his character, and he is born with these peculiarities, then 
that must remove all personal responsibility on his part, and he 
must be just what he naturally is and could not be anything else. 
Well, if a man's mind, brain, skull and whole body were made out 
of cast iron, this would undoubtedly be the case, and we should 
have no need of either schools or churches; but thanks to our 
Creator we are differently constituted, are made so susceptible to 
change that we can improve, develop and round up our characters. 
We are not cast in a mold as a mechanic turns out stoves and 
implements, complete at once and ready to be used without altera- 
tion, but we are born with soft, pliant, impressible and susceptible 
natures. Hence we grow to perfection by degrees, instead of being 
made so at once. We are subject to changes and influences that 
surround us on every side and leave their impress upon us, inter- 
nally and externally, and we have the will and privilege, as rational 
and intelligent beings, to accept or reject whatsoever influence and 
impression we choose. There is where our responsibility comes 
in. We can make or unmake ourselves to a certain extent. We 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 329 

cannot change our original natures which we have inherited from 
our parents — our individuality and identity — but we can change or 
modify our characters and our bodies. We can improve any defi- 
ciency by exercise, and restrain any excess by non-exercise, and 
with the use of some other faculties can counteract whatever is 
wrong. And the fact that any infidel knows, or might know if he 
would only consult phrenology, that he is an oddity, or at least is 
unbalanced in mind and brain, is or should be sufficient to convince 
him that his infidel notions are wrong, and that he ought to begin 
by exercising some faculties and restraining others to change his 
mind and character. That is what the great Socrates did; he had 
a giant intellect in a body with equally strong propensities and 
appetites, and consequently there arose a struggle within him, be- 
tween mind and flesh, for the mastery. The question was whether 
his intellect should serve his body and minister to its depraved pro- 
pensities, or whether his body should serve his intellect and feed it 
with vital force, and to his honor be it said, he chose the latter; 
hence, when a physiognomist one day examined him in the pres- 
ence of his pupils and pronounced him a man of strong animal 
nature and gluttonous propensity, they were about to stone him 
for his insult; but Socrates said, "Stop, students! by nature I am 
just what this man has described me to be, but by self-control and 
education I am what you know me to be — a different character." 
Thus I say every man can be the architect of his own character, 
and phrenology and its kindred sciences will tell him how. 

Another mistake of the infidel is that he uses some of his facul- 
ties, such as the reflectives, for purposes they were never intended 
for. He forms his religion (if you can call it such) through the use 
of his reasoning faculties instead of bringing into action his vener- 
ation, faith, hope, etc., which are the only faculties through which 
a man can acceptably worship and serve his Maker, or have any- 
thing like a proper conception of his character, and especially his 
Divine nature. All men and nations have their ideas of a God. To 
one he is a God of mercy and benevolence; to another a God of love; 
to another a God of justice; to another a God of holiness, who hates 
iniquity; to another a God of strength and power; and to still an- 
other a God of beauty, and so on; each person or nation picturing 
him to their minds according to their tastes and phrenological de- 
velopments. The Greeks, being a people of great taste and lovers of 



330 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

beauty, worshiped him as such. To thejews he was great and mighty 
to protect and deliver them from their enemies. But to the infidel, 
God is a far-off, indescribable and uncompanionable being, a Creator 
who has probably made us or permitted us to exist, but who does 
not trouble himself about our relations to each other or to himself. 
We must use our faculties, then, in the right direction, and for what 
God and nature intended them for. With the faculty of observa- 
tion we must observe, with memory we must remember, but not 
try to observe or think with memory, because it was intended sim- 
ply as a mental storehouse wherein to keep the things we have 
gathered through observation, or heard through our ears. With 
causality we are to think, reason, plan, investigate, comprehend and 
understand things; but it would be just as absurd to try to worship 
through that organ, or with it manifest any religious feeling, or 
even form a religion, as it would be to try to reason, memorize or 
observe through any of the moral organs. Yet this is practically 
what the skeptic and infidel does. He ignores the normal exercise 
of all, or nearly all, of his religious faculties; he lets them slumber 
like the dormouse in a state of torpidity, and creates or forms for 
himself a religion through his intellectual faculties. Such a relig- 
ion is cold and dead because it is nothing more than rationalism or 
materialism, or perhaps a mixture of both. I grant there are many 
religious people who do not use enough reason in their worship, or 
even common sense, hence they become superstitious, intolerant or 
blind devotees, having more zeal than knowledge; and from this 
error have arisen all the terrible religious persecutions of the ages. 
There is a vast amount of religious ignorance at the present day, 
partly because the mass follow their leaders without thinking for 
themselves, and partly because their education is very limited. 
Hence the church has laid itself open to the attack of such men as 
infidels and skeptics, and has made itself a fit subject for ridicule 
and caricature, and more than once has winced under severe criti- 
cisms of its flagrant inconsistencies. Not that the people them- 
selves have been laughed and sneered at, but the caricatured, 
deformed, inconsistent and selfish religion they have professed and 
exhibited to the world under the name of Christians or disciples of 
Jesus Christ. No wonder the infidel does not desire-to copy after or 
receive for a Savior such a being as many of his professed followers 
picture him to be! Nevertheless, any man ought to have sufficient 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 33 1 

judgment and honesty of mind and purpose to discern between 
a genuine and a caricatured profession, but, strange to say, the 
skeptic never seems to see any thing else but the inconsistencies 
of Christians and these he holds up before his godless eyes and 
magnifies from molehills into mountains, and whenever he discov- 
ers, or thinks he discovers, an inconsistency in some prominent 
professing Christian, or in Christianity itself, he grins out of one 
side of his mouth, and feels as pleased as a girl with a new dress or 
a boy with a new pair of boots. If he should chance to discern a 
contradiction of statements in the Bible (or an apparent contradic- 
tion) he thinks he has discovered a battering ram that will knock 
down the bulwarks of Christianity, and lay it waste and desolate. 
But the religion of the Bible is Phcenix-like, it can rise from its 
own ashes, and it will take more infidel battering machines than 
have ever been brought to bear on it yet, to even weaken the faith 
of the religious classes, much less destroy it. 

All reasoning beings are governed by moral and spiritual laws. 
All unreasoning beings, such as animals, are not governed by any 
moral or superior law, but by their own instinct and their subjec- 
tion to the will of man. The higher the order of beings the greater 
the obedience required by its Creator, and the more restraining or 
governing influence is necessary, in this world at least. For 
although man has greater intelligence than the brute creation, he 
nevertheless needs more restraint laid upon him because of his in- 
tense, finely-wrought, extremely nervous and sensitive nature, which 
is easily thrown out of order and just as susceptible to evil as it is 
to good, if not more so. Hence I deny what the infidel assumes, 
teaches and practices, that man is to be a law unto himself and do 
just as he pleases in all matters of a physical and moral nature. I 
oppose this theory of human government for two reasons : First, 
because man is not capable of constructing laws to govern himself; 
he has neither the knowledge nor the disposition necessary to do 
it. Were he to attempt to do it (supposing the Bible or a knowl- 
edge of it to be extinct) he would find that his selfish and social 
nature, combined with his appetites and propensities, would over- 
balance his reason and his vague moral perception of right and 
wrong, and he would rise no higher than the African negroes, the 
Hottentots, the Chinese, and a host of other people who have been 
without any divine laws to guide them. My second objection is, 



332 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

that it is an insult to the Almighty who created us and made us 
dependent upon him. If I have been rightly informed, a modern 
infidel asserts that the Supreme Being cares very little about his 
intelligent creatures, and still less as to what they think or care 
about him, and in order to refute the orthodox teaching that God 
will punish men for their sins, especially the sin of unbelief, he sup- 
poses a case to illustrate and enforce his idea. Suppose, says he, a 
man by the name of John Smith makes a garden and plants in it a 
variety of trees and flowers to add to its beauty and his own pleas- 
ure; and in addition to the many things he has planted in it he 
makes two little bugs and puts them in the garden also, that they 
may eat, live and be happy; but as he walks through his garden 
some evening he hears a discussion going on between the two bugs 
about himself. One bug says he believes that John Smith made 
him and that he owes obedience to him, and that it will be highly 
displeasing to him not to believe in him and recognize him as his 
maker. The other bug says: "Now I don't believe anything of the 
kind. I don't believe that John Smith either made me or cares 
anything about me or my destiny." Thereupon Mr. Smith gets 
angry at the skeptical bug and stamps his foot upon him and 
crushes him out of existence ; and this, Mr. Robert Ingersoll thinks 
(if the person who informed me is correct in his statement, for I 
have no desire to misquote or misinterpret any person) is an illus- 
tration of the position we occupy or the relation we sustain to our 
Maker. Well, perhaps it is, partly, but it is not by any means the 
relation we sustain to bugs, and although this may have been a very 
fine story to tell a public audience in the happy style Mr. Ingersoll 
is master of, it is the farthest-fetched and most absurd illustration 
and reasoning I ever heard of. You may just as well suppose the 
moon to be made out of green cheese as to suppose a man making 
two live bugs. No man ever did such a thing; no man has the power 
to create or make any living thing; therefore, his comparison is 
simply ridiculous and falls to the ground. But if it were possible 
for a man to make a living thing it is more reasonable to suppose 
that he would implant in its nature a knowledge, a belief and a 
recognition of himself as the author of its existence. Man has too 
much conceit in him to make a thing without wishing to stamp his 
individuality or personality upon the workmanship of his hands. 
Even in the commercial and mechanical world, men like to put their 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 333 

names upon everything they make, and take out patents for every 
new invention. So, while Ingersoll may be a good reasoner and 
thinker in politics, he certainly is not in theology. 

It is easy to see why the infidel is opposed to the spiritual gov- 
ernment of God. Large reason, strong will, deficient imitation and 
spirituality of mind, makes him dislike the idea of being under the 
control or guidance of any other person. He loves his own iden- 
tity too much to take on the sentiments or will of another, and he 
refuses obedience to a higher and spiritual law for the same reason 
that he rejects the Bible and Jesus Christ. He cannot or rather 
will not take on any other character than his own; has no desire to 
think and act as somebody else does; to get out of self into another. 
For this reason the infidel is not likely to be guilty of plagiarism, 
because he does not care enough about copying or making the 
sentiments of others his own; unless, perchance, it is something in 
harmony with his own ideas. 

A Christian then, is one who imitates the life and character of 
Jesus Christ; who adopts his sentiments and teachings and conforms 
to his laws and requirements. And the more perfect his Christian 
life, the more he walks in the footsteps of Christ, and gets out of 
himself into Christ's spirituality; but the infidel is one who does 
just the reverse; he keeps away from Christ, out of his influence as 
far as possible, and shuts himself up within himself — a conceited, 
selfish, unhappy mortal — that is, comparatively unhappy. He may 
if he is strong and healthy, have a good deal of animal and worldly 
happiness, but not that higher spiritual happiness which no worldly 
man, much less an infidel, can possibly know anything about. 
Christianity is a sort of engrafting process; it is not natural to the 
human heart, and, without a yielding disposition, combined with a 
desire to be like unto something or somebody else superior in char- 
acter to themselves, there would be no Christians or Christ-like 
men and women. 

This faculty and organ of moral imitation which copies or takes 
on ideas and character, is placed higher up in the brain than reason, 
thus showing its superiority over reason. The propensities and all 
the lower organs are located in the base of the brain, the reasoning 
organs in the middle or higher up than the propensities, but the 
moral and religious organs occupy the crown of the head, and imi- 
tation is among them. The position, therefore, of the moral organs 



334 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

is sufficient proof of their superiority over all the others; and that 
the moral or spiritual faculties ought to govern, or at least influence, 
the reasoning faculties and lift the ideas beyond and out of self. 
When a man is very large in the region of the perceptives, located 
immediately over the eyes, and uses these faculties more than the 
moral group, he is inclined to materialism, though it does not neces- 
sarily follow that he is or must be a materialist. This is why a 
good many scientific men are skeptics: because they are always 
observing, investigating and studying and taking notice of things 
of a material or worldly nature, without exercising their spiritual- 
faculties, and thereby fail to keep their minds and ideas balanced. 
No man can possibly think right on any subject without the aid of 
all his faculties to enable him to see things in all their bearings. 
Small faith makes a man doubt, and with large causality, to consider 
everything he cannot reason out an absurdity. Small imitation 
makes a man reject creeds and formulas, or the trodden paths of 
others, and with large reason, he will seek a new path or religion 
of his own (one of reason) rather than follow that of another. To 
reason about things merely from observation or in an abstract way, 
without the intuitions of one's spiritual life, is to warp the judg- 
ment and take a one-sided and erroneous view of things. Faith as 
far excels reason as metaphysics do physics. Reason can only be a 
guide to us in relation to this world and the things we can see and 
perceive by the aid of natural vision. We cannot reason about the 
spiritual world with any degree of certainty, because practically we 
know nothing about it, therefore we need some other faculty to grasp 
its reality, and mentally see what we cannot physically see, which is 
faith. If a man is very large in his reasoning faculties, with not much 
perceptive power or spirituality and imitation, then he is a rational- 
ist, and must have a reason for everything and be controlled by his 
reason entirely; so much so that he makes reason his God. He is so 
abstract in his methods of thinking that he becomes abstracted in 
his mind, and wanders into the metaphysical fields of mysticism 
and speculative impractical philosophy. He is a day-dreamer, 
reveling in theories that are wild and visionary, like many of the 
old scholastics. The materialist is a naturalist; he worships na- 
ture; or perhaps, in a half-hearted way, he worships God through 
nature. His god must be a natural or materialized god; he knows 
nothing of any other, can see no other, nor feelany other, because 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 335 

his spiritual eyes are closed or dim, and his spiritual sensibility too 
weak to be impressed. The rationalist is a step higher, because 
the reasoning organs are higher up in the brain than the percep- 
tives, but his religion is a cold, heartless, negative kind; it will 
never warm his soul nor cheer his depressed spirit. True religion 
must have feeling, warmth and spirituality in it, as well as intelli- 
gence, and as the very essence of religion is worship, devotion and 
love, there must be some being outside of self to adore, and how 
can man adore without having the faculty of imitation which gives 
him the desire and ability to assimilate himself to the object of his 
adoration, and to become en rapport with the spirit of the God he 
seeks to love? It is the upper and middle part of the brain from 
which springs the true spirit of worship. These organs and facul- 
ties were given to man for the purpose of bringing him into relation 
and fellowship with his Maker. These faculties are the connecting 
link between the physical world and the spiritual. Blot out these, as 
the infidel does, and man is simply an intelligent animal, only that 
and nothing more; but with them, is an intelligent and religious 
animal. Man, then, is a devotional, worshiping animal, and who 
more worthy of worship than his Maker? But how can he worship 
a being without having some spiritual and intelligent conception of 
him? This is just what the Creator has done for him in revealing 
his nature through the Bible and Jesus Christ. He has adapted 
himself to our wants, nature and understanding. We never could 
understand a being purely spirit, but we can understand a god or 
spirit in the person of human nature. Is there anything unnatural 
or unreasonable in God manifesting himself to us in the flesh, and 
was there ever, or can there be, a higher or purer type of character 
manifested to us than is seen in the person of his son, Jesus? God 
has given us a faculty to imitate character; and he has also 
given us a Divine character, manifested in the flesh, to imitate — a 
pattern to copy after, a living example that we can place before 
our minds and strive to emulate day by day. The wisdom of God 
in permitting himself to be an object of worship to his creatures 
is apparent when we remember that whenever we love, adore and 
imitate a character or being far superior to ourselves, we elevate 
and purify our natures; but were we to become idolators, and 
worship objects below our own standard of character, or even of 
our own rank, we should become degraded as the heathen are. 



336* INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

I find the great objection with many in believing and recogniz- 
ing Christ as the Son of God, is the peculiar circumstances (to them 
peculiar) attending his conception and birth. The ungodly and 
licentious man cannot understand a woman being enciente without 
having carnal intercourse with man. Being impure themselves in 
their sexual feelings, I suppose they are suspicious of anybody else 
being any better, and thus conclude that the story of the Bible 
concerning the Virgin Mary is false. I never could see anything 
more difficult or wonderful about the conception of Christ than 
there is in the conception and birth of any human being. We are 
all fearfully and wonderfully made, and I would like to meet the 
skeptic or any other man who can explain the science or philosophy 
of his own origin which takes place through natural means and 
laws. When the Creator wishes to accomplish a purpose he finds 
a way to do it. His ways are not our ways, and we need not ex- 
pect to understand all of them. Neither is it necessary because we 
cannot understand a thing to reject it, because that is the act of a 
fool and not of a wise man. If Christ had been born through the 
ordinary course of nature he would not have been a pure man, 
because the love passion in mankind is perverted and impure; 
neither would he have had a Divine Nature and therefore could not 
have been the Savior of the world. God has not only given man a 
faculty to imitate — a desire to become like unto another superior 
to himself — and to imbibe the spirit and good thoughts of another, 
but has also given him a model to copy after, one whose sentiments 
he can adopt and make beneficial to his own life. This imitative 
power manifests itself in various ways: morally, it copies character, 
ideas and sentiments, and, combined with the intellect, I believe it 
imparts that peculiar memory some have whereby they can listen 
to a sermon or lecture and go home and repeat it. Hence when 
they read they seem to make the choice thoughts of the author 
their own. Like a prominent clergyman in Chicago who had a 
similar memory, and recited parts of other men's writings or ser- 
mons as his own, until he was finally accused of plagiarism. In art, 
this faculty draws and imitates the likeness of some other thing or 
picture; it gives the talent to reproduce other things as pictures. 
In idolatry, it makes other gods — images to represent the God ol 
their imagination and belief. In mechanism, it makes patterns, 
builds houses like unto other houses, works after a plan or model. 




BISHOP PADDOCK. 



Showing a full development of mental imitation where the dotted line appears, in 
contrast to that of Mr. Ingersoll. Persons with such a form of brain are inclined to copy 
ideas, character and customs, and conform to the usages of society. What such persons 
copy or imitate, however, will depend upon their education, tastes and judgment. It 
does not follow that every person with a head like this will be a Christian; or that 
those with heads like Ingersoll 1 3, Darwin's, and thousands similar, will be skeptics or 
infidels; but that they are more susceptible to the teachings and influences of one belief 
than the other. A man's character, especially his belief, is largely due to circumstances 
and education, as well as his peculiar form of brain and temperament. 




ROBERT INGERSOLL. 



He is a person of large vital force and chest capacity; great intellectual power and 
command of language; hence his oratorical talent with which he moves and influences 
his audience. He is much better adapted, however, for a politician, than a theologian; 
for the simple reason that he is decidedly deficient in religious or spiritual nature and 
mental imitation. A Christian imitates and conforms to the life and character of Jesus 
Christ; Ingersoll has no desire to imitate anybody. Observe the rounding or sloping off 
appearance at the side and top of the* head, just where the hair stops. Physically consid- 
ered, he is a splendid animal; but round, fat, pudding-faced people are not generally 
noted for piety. He is a man possessing a good degree of veneration, but more firm and 
positive in character than submissive or yielding; has a strong social nature; is good- 
hearted and liberal, but more liberal to himself and human nature than to his Creator. 
The spiritual life and nature not being so strongly developed as the animal and intellect- 
ual, he is well constituted to enjoy the good things of this life and world. 

Ingersoll has unquestionably advanced some sensible ideas that may tend to modify 
some of the extreme rigid orthodox teachings of the past; but he has evidently jumped 
from the frying-pan into the fire, by leaping into extreme liberalism, which is always 
willing to have a heaven, but dislikes the idea of a hell. Poor, selfish, human nature 
always loves whatever is pleasing and agreeable, but hates the opposite. Who ever heard 
of a man who had any objections to there being a heaven, or to going there himself. Men 
and women object to the idea of hell, or future punishment of any kind, because it does 
not harmonize with their conceited and selfish natures. 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 337 

In business, it copies other men's ways of doing things. An illus- 
tration of it may be seen in the average merchant who copies some 
prominent and more successful business man in his way of doing 
business, advertising, displaying of goods or the making of articles. 
In the actor, it imitates the actions and character of others, and 
gives in connection with the imagination the ability to conceive 
the character of another and then to act it out. So the Christian 
is, in one sense, an actor: he conceives the character of Jesus Christ 
and then acts it in his daily life and conduct. This the infidel does 
not, and will not do. Physically, this faculty imitates gestures, 
voice, manners, habits, etc., like the monkey, the parrot and mock- 
ing bird. This is essential to a good speaker. John B. Gough has 
it large. It is also essential to the artist and mechanic. In fact, 
this faculty is like the corner stone of a building: it seems to dove- 
tail into the moral, intellectual, sentimental and mechanical facul- 
ties, working in connection with all of them and rounding out the 
character; making it far more symmetrical. Its deficiency is a sad 
loss to any man, not only in a religious or moral aspect, but from 
any point of view. 

I do not say that every person who is deficient in imitation will 
be an infidel or a skeptic, nor that every person with it large will 
be a Christian, but that such a person more easily and readily 
becomes the one or the other; his mind is more quickly influenced 
in either direction. A man's faith is something like his honesty, 
depending very largely upon his education, especially his early 
training. Much of the skepticism of the day is due to corrupt 
influence and education. It is not always a deficiency of faith that 
make men skeptical, for the very faculty that causes them to believe 
religious truth will likewise enable them to believe anything else. 
Faith simply believes, trusts, and shows or places confidence in a 
person or thing; but it does not analyze truths or statements to 
discover what is truth, or what is not. That depends upon the in- 
tellect and will. Hence skeptics and infidels may and do have 
frequently the faculty of faith large, for I have found it to be so m 
many of their heads, so that neither large faith nor veneration or 
both combined will prevent a man from being a skeptic. Still, if 
veneration is small he will lack reverence, devotion, a humble, yield- 
ing disposition, and a love for the souls of others, and if faith is 
small he will be doubting, unwilling to believe a thing without 



338 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

evidence, even if a Christian. Like a clergyman I examined in a 
church where I was lecturing on one occasion. I did not know him. 
had not the slightest idea who he was, though I had just spoken to 
a congregation made up partly of his own people. They were 
somewhat startled when I announced to them that it was difficult 
for him to believe a statement without evidence, and that in some 
respects he was skeptical though he might be a Christian. When 
I was through he arose and stated to the audience that I was pos- 
itively correct, he wanted proof of a thing before he could accept 
it. I examined another man at the same time, and when some 
person in the audience asked me what church he belonged to, I 
replied that I did not pretend to tell that, but I hardly thought he 
belonged to any; because, said I, he is very skeptical, more so than 
the other gentleman, and is almost destitute of a religious nature. 
That man was a regular infidel, a lawyer by profession, and infi- 
delity seemed to run in his very blood. He had a peculiar temper- 
ament and facial expression. 

This is the strongest evidence I know of that Christianity is 
true and infidelity false — the kind of facial expressions I see pro- 
duced by the two characters. The intelligent Christian man has a 
better, purer and nobler looking face than an intelligent infidel. 
The mind will shine through the face, and the kind of mind one 
has determines the kind of face, and I prefer that kind of mind, 
character and religion that makes the best-looking face. I do not 
mean a mere pretty face, but a good, sweet face. I never yet saw a 
confirmed infidel or skeptic, who had been so for a number of years, 
who had a real good, pure, sweet face. So strongly is the religious 
and irreligious nature impressed upon the face that it is easily 
discerned by an experienced physiognomist, and I do not remem- 
ber having ever made a mistake in telling whether a person had 
descended from religious parents, — that is when the parents had 
been very pious and had stamped their piety upon their offspring; 
because their faces and heads would both show an inherited re- 
ligious nature. I remember a young lady I once examined in 
Chicago, who had come in from the country. She had one of 
the finest-modeled religious heads and facial expressions I ever 
saw, and I remarked: "You have descended from a religious an- 
cestry; my impression is that your mother was a remarkably pious 
woman, and if you are a Christian young lady^ which I think you 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 339 

are, you cannot tell just when you were converted." She said I 
was correct in every statement. I do not claim to be able to tell 
a religious ancestry in every case, in fact, very few; because the 
religion of a good many people is rather thin: it is a sort of milk- 
and-water arrangement, a religion without much heart or soul in 
it, a mixture of piety, or rather formality, and worldliness. This 
kind is too weak to be transmitted, or make much impression upon 
the mind, face and head. 

Some take the view that physical perfection is all that is neces- 
sary to impart perfection of mind as well as health, but that cannot 
be, because bodily changes are dependent upon changes in the 
soul and spirit-life as well as upon material or physical influences. 
For I claim that the life-principle precedes organism and mate- 
rialism. The soul forms and takes unto itself a body, and not the 
body the soul. We have good reason to believe that spirit existed 
before matter, and although body and soul grew and developed 
into perfection together, the spirit is the controlling and molding 
power. Spiritual or religious exercise develops spirituality oi 
mind, while physical exercise develops physical power; hence, 
while we may improve the quality and appearance of the body 
through the mind and soul, we cannot develop religious character 
through physical exercise. 

After writing this chapter, and just before going to press, I 
noticed a couple of lines, written by Edmund Spenser, which beau- 
tifully expresses the same idea of the soul forming the body: 

From the soul the body form doth take, 
For soul is form and doth the body make. 

The spiritual can descend to the material much better than the 
material can ascend to the spiritual. A religious or Christian 
character will not spring into life and grow up out of the natural 
human heart. It must be engrafted upon or distilled into the heart 
through the Divine awakening of the spiritual faculties. Man 
needs a heavenly inspiration from some source to infuse spiritual 
life into his spiritual or moral faculties. He cannot put it there 
himself, any more than he can fly. The lust of the flesh, the lust 
of the eye, and the pride of life appeal more plainly to his senses, 
and are far more powerful than all his good inclinations and soul- 
longings after a higher life; and if you want proof, I point you to 



340 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

the world, and to the every-day life of men and women, to their 
likes and dislikes, their conduct, habits and the kind of pleasures 
they seek. It takes a mighty influence, a powerful impression, 
better experienced than described, to change the natural desires 
of the soul for worldly enjoyment to that quiet, hopeful faith that 
anchors the soul to a new-born spiritual life, which the skeptic and 
infidel knows nothing about, and cannot possibly understand, be- 
cause he has never experienced it. There is as much difference 
in the state and desires of the Christian and the worldly-minded 
soul, as there is between the caterpillar and the butterfly. The one 
is free, and in the full possession of its soaring powers in the pure 
air and sunlight of heaven; the other is but a crawling worm, with 
limited freedom, and occupying a lower plane of existence — has 
less capacity of enjoyment because of a more earthly nature. Some 
caterpillars never become anything more than that; they perform 
their work but live and die caterpillars, never emerging into the 
higher life of the beautiful butterfly. And that is the way with a 
good many souls; they live and die human caterpillars, because 
their souls have never seen the light of heaven and thereby risen 
into a new and higher life. And that is the trouble with the 
infidel; he is contented to be a human caterpillar, and does his 
level best to keep his soul from peeping outside the prison-walls of 
carnality, of worldliness, rationalism, materialism, and all other 
isms. Thus he gropes his way through life and, hog-like, sees 
only the things of earth, never looking upward to behold that 
which is above. Who wants to be an infidel, a human caterpillar, 
a thing to live and breathe awhile, then pass away; to be cast out 
by the Almighty among the waste and useless things of the uni- 
verse, or to be consumed as so much rubbish? 

O infidel, thou foolish man ! 
Why dost thou hate the Son of Man? 
No other soul shines out so bright 
Nor fills the world with heavenly light. 

I have thus far spoken chiefly of the innate and constitutional 
causes of infidelity, those which spring from the individual's own 
mind without any or little external pressure. I now propose to 
enumerate some or most of the external agencies which produce 
infidels and skeptics, especially the latter. It is generally the 
blending of these two conditions, the internal and external, that 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 341 

makes the infidel. There must be earth and seed to produce a crop 
of wheat or grain of any kind; so the constitutional condition, the 
innate susceptibility, is the ground, so to speak, in which infidel 
truth readily takes root and springs up, and the outside influences 
that are brought to bear upon the mind are the seed sown. First 
among these external influences, as I have already intimated, are 
pre-natal conditions. Parents who live skeptical or even worldly, 
ungodly lives themselves, need not be astonished if they raise a 
crop of young skeptics. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he 
also reap," is as true in a hereditary point of view as it is in the natu- 
ral and spiritual world. In fact, in the child is a concentration or 
combination of both the natural and spiritual elements, because the 
child is the reproduction of the parents, physically and mentally. 
The soul of the child depends upon the existing states of the souls 
of its parents as much as the body does. It is true that the chil- 
dren of infidels may grow up into a Christian life, because it is not 
often — a rare thing — to find both parents infidels or skeptics; and 
if they are they may not be both deficient in the same religious 
faculties. One may have large faith, but small imitation and vener- 
ation, which would produce one kind or shade of infidelity; and 
the other may have a good share of imitation and veneration, but 
small faith, and be a skeptic of another shade or type. The child 
may inherit the prominent faculties of both parents, or a moderate 
development of them, which, though not religiously exercised in 
either parent, would, or may, nevertheless render the child suscep- 
tible to religious influence. So skeptical children may, in like 
manner, spring from religious parents, through their lukewarmness 
or a deficiency in one or both of some of their moral faculties; be- 
cause the child may take the deficiencies of either parent as well 
as the strong characteristics. Here, for instance, are two parents, 
the one strong and healthy, well developed physically; the other, 
weak and consumptive. Now the child may inherit either the 
consumptive tendencies of the one, and the strong, healthy consti- 
tution of the other, or be a blending of both. This depends largely 
upon their adaptation to each other in temperament, and their 
respective mental and physical states at the time of coition, as well 
as the condition of the mother in mind and body during pregnancy. 
Who has not observed the moral and physical difference between 
the children of the same parentage, caused, of course, by the differ- 



342 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

ence in the minds and bodies of the parents at the time of each 
child's conception? From the same parentage, or family connec- 
tion, may spring up a Christian and an infidel, a saint and a human 
devil, as in the case of Jonathan Edwards and Aaron Burr. Let 
those who want good or Christian children develop and vigorously 
and earnestly exercise the spiritual faculties, both before the con- 
ception of the child and after its conception, or during the growth 
of the child in the womb, especially the last three months. From 
the sixth to the ninth month let the mother become especially 
devotional, and bring into action all her moral and religious facul- 
ties. Then in after years she will not have any occasion to break 
her heart over the wayward career of a lost and ruined son or 
daughter. Let all parents do this, and at the same time check the 
amative impulse and keep in subjection their passions and animal 
nature, and in a few generations skeptics and infidels would be 
unknown. Such an individual would be a living curiosity that the 
owner of a menagerie would want to take around the country and 
place on exhibition. 

Another cause of skepticism is the influence of parents upon 
children after birth, or during their childhood and early life at home. 
Some children are brought under the influence and training of a 
cast-iron sort of religion, which in time makes Christianity objec- 
tionable, and produces in their hearts a perfect hatred of it, and a 
dislike for Christians in general. Such parents try to force and 
hammer religion into their children, and the result is they force 
and hammer it out of them. The religion of the meek and lowly 
Jesus was never intended to be forced into anybody, old or young, 
good or bad. It must be received into the heart gladly or it will 
never stay there, because the old saying is true: " A man convinced 
against his will, is of the same opinion still." For Christian parents 
to draw on a face a yard long, and look as black as a thunder-cloud 
at a child for some slight irregularity of conduct, and then, perhaps, 
within an hour have family prayers, or talk to them about the love 
of Jesus, is not the way to recommend Jesus or his religion to their 
young souls. Because they form their conception of the religion of 
Jesus through the religious character and facial expression of their 
parents; and it is quite natural they should do so. A Presbyterian 
clergyman in the western part of New York state, some years ago, 
whipped his child to death because he would not say his prayers. 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 343 

That man had more severity than piety, and he never ought to have 
had a child to bring up, or else he ought to have had a little phreno- 
logical science to teach him that his organs of firmness, destructive- 
ness and combativeness, especially the two former, were much larger 
than some of his moral faculties. He was a human mule himself 
and his boy took after him. Both had large firmness and neither 
one would give in, till death ended the struggle. Now, if that 
father had used love instead of mulish obstinacy and tiger-like 
force, he would, most likely, have warmed, melted and won the 
heart of his boy. He did not understand himself nor his boy either, 
and there are plenty of parents just as perverse and unreasonable 
as he was, only they do not carry it quite so far, and I do not sup- 
pose he intended to do it either. A large number of parents fail to 
make religion attractive to their children; indeed, they do almost 
everything to make it distasteful, and hence this is a cause of a large 
amount of skepticism and some infidels. 

Very often religious services are made too long and wearisome 
to children, and thus the Sabbath is looked upon as a day of pun- 
ishment to them, and then springs up a desire for Sabbath desecra- 
tion. A good many children are made to sit still all day on Sunday, 
when not at church, and read religious books; they hardly dare 
move, speak or call their souls their own. I have seen children 
trained in just that way, but I never knew them to be any better 
for that cold, stiff, rigid, miserable kind of training. Children see 
their parents go to church to sing, pray and perhaps preach, or 
hear them speak in the prayer-meeting, telling their brethren how 
they enjoy religion and how much they love the Lord, and so on, 
and perhaps be hardly home from the meeting ten minutes before 
they commence to scold, wrangle, and almost quarrel over some 
trifling affair. I remember just such a family. The father and 
mother were church members, but their son or son-in-law (am not 
positive which) was skeptical. I called there one Sabbath after 
church and heard quite high words between father and son on ac- 
count of their difference in belief. The son, like every other infidel, 
seemingly could not live without making an attack on the Bible or 
some professor of religion, whenever he saw an opportunity. The 
father was a man of somewhat rough nature and strong feelings, 
and only made things worse by getting into a passion and upbraid- 
ing his son for his infidelity. Hence the improper conduct of the 



344 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

father and most likely other inconsistencies only strengthened the 
infidelity of his son, and made the whole family unhappy, as they 
all lived in the same house. Thus, if parents want their children to 
worship the same God that they do, they must set them a good 
example, make their religion attractive and commendable, and 
then if they are born right, as I have already explained, they will 
naturally adopt it or grow up into a good and moral life. I do not 
say they will not need converting, but that they will readily yield 
to religious influence and training and be governed by its princi- 
ples. Children are great imitators and like monkeys do what they 
see others do, especially their parents, whether it be good or bad. 
But they will not imitate or take on a character they dislike; they 
may imitate bad actions, habits or words, because they may have a 
relish or perverted taste for them, even though they know they are 
bad, such as drinking, smoking, chewing, swearing, lying and other 
vices. But if a child had an utter dislike for any vice or habit, 
even the parents would experience great difficulty in getting him 
to adopt it. And if this is tr*ue of worldly habits and vices that are 
natural to the human heart, how much more must it apply to relig- 
ious matters that are distasteful to the human heart ? 

Another class becomes skeptical through hearing lectures or 
reading books on infidelity. This is the case with those negative 
sort of minds that are too easily influenced and swayed by diversity 
of opinion. They can believe almost anything that suits their 
fancy, their habits and lives. And there are a good many Christians 
of that stamp. They are not well rooted in the faith, have not firm, 
positive characters; are a sort of half-hearted Christians (if they 
can be called Christians at all) that are easily turned aside from 
their religious belief. It is astonishing how much a man's character 
is made up from what he reads. A single book, almost a single 
page, may determine his course and character all through life. 
How careful, then, young people should be what they read; but 
more particularly what they accept as true, or what they glean 
from their reading and store away in their memories for reflection 
and use. Good books make good men; false books make false or 
deluded men; and bad books make bad men. I question if a man 
is ever as good after he has once read a really bad book. Now a 
book that is false in its teachings and written in a very attractive 
style, is almost as pernicious in its final results as a bad book; 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 345 

because it is received by a greater number and its teachings are 
openly advocated and practiced in society. Not that every book 
not exactly correct in its teachings is of this kind, but I mean such 
works as weaken the morals by denying moral responsibility; that 
weaken one's faith in his Maker and tend to level his ideas of life 
to the present state only; to eat, drink and be merry, and regard 
himself as simply an intelligent animal. Books also are pernicious 
that delude a man with false hope, by which he expects to get to 
the better land (if there is any in his imagination), without any 
assistance but his own good works; that kind of goodness that 
simply keeps him out of jail or the penitentiary and on good terms 
with his neighbors and companions. These are the books in con- 
nection with light, trashy literature that are beguiling the minds 
of men and women all over the country. Yes, the abominable 
literature of the age is making a great many skeptics; that kind of 
stuff that floods almost every public place of resort, on the railroads 
and steamboats, in news stores, the public streets and anywhere 
and everywhere that a little nook or corner can be found to display 
and sell the worthless, injurious trash. Not that these books, or 
many of the class I have mentioned, teach infidelity or anything 
else, but their tendency is to weaken the mind and destroy a taste 
for anything sacred, serious or scientific; they produce a sort of 
mental dissipation that lulls the moral and spiritual nature into a 
dormant state from which it too often never awakens. The major- 
ity of news-dealers would rather sell this kind of literature than 
anything sensible or useful, and if you ask them why they push it 
in preference to a better kind, they answer, they sell what the pub- 
lic want; that it does not make any difference to them what they 
sell so long as they can make money out of it, and it is not decid- 
edly bad (they might say, so long as the law cannot lay hold of 
them). The fact is, the public will buy almost anything that is 
attractive and is properly put before them and pushed, until they 
acquire a taste for it. 

The influence of this flashy, trashy, nonsensical kind of litera- 
ture upon the minds of people, is best seen and illustrated in the 
very persons who sell it. You cannot get the half of them to take 
any interest in the sale of a real sensible book or pamphlet, and if 
one were to offer to put such books on sale, they would hardly give 
them a place on their stands. But take them some love-story, 



346 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

novel, or blood-and-thunder papers, and they are all alive in the 
sale of them, especially if they contain some pictures of shooting 
and stabbing - scenes. Anything that is exciting, thrilling, adven- 
turous, criminal, or that smacks of fast life, or that is full of stale 
jokes, not worth the paper they are written on, these are the kind 
of books and papers that the average news-dealer likes to buy, sell 
and read. And the faces of these men and their clerks — young 
men or boys generally, correspond with their perverted tastes. 
There are exceptions, of course; all news-dealers are not of this 
stamp, but a good many of them are. I claim, then, that a very 
large amount of the literature of the day is decidedly irreligious in 
its influence upon the public mind, and strongly tends or inclines 
its readers to infidelity or skepticism. And the proof of this state- 
ment is seen in the lives of the people who are always reading and 
dealing in such miserable trash; they have neither religious nor 
scientific taste. They are far more at home in a theater, billiard- 
hall, bar-room, cigar-store, or in some other strictly worldly place. 
Who ever knew an inveterate novel-reader to be fond of the Bible, 
or any other religious work? I remember a young woman I saw 
in a laundry in Cincinnati when I called for some washing. I saw 
by her face that she was a girl who cared for nothing but to have 
a good time, read trash and catch beaus. She had a novel in her 
hand when I entered the office, and I remarked in a pleasant, good- 
natured way: "Is that the kind of books or papers you read?" 
"Yes," said she, in a half-laughing way, "I have to have something 
to pass the time away." "Well," said I, "would it not do you more 
good to read the Bible occasionally?" Then with a half smile of con- 
tempt at the thought of such a thing, she replied: "O pshaw! that 
is too dry; I would go to sleep over that." There is the difficulty. 
Light, trashy literature in time makes light, frivolous minds, which 
gradually emerge into skepticism and reject all spiritual truth and 
influence. But I am not an extremist in this respect, and therefore 
do not say that a person should never read any kind of fiction or 
amusing literature. Sometimes a wearied, prosaic, or despondent 
mind may find rest, diversity, recreation, animation and cheerful- 
ness through the reading of good fiction or amusing incidents. 
But these should be read and taken as a sort of mental medicine, 
and not to satisfy an inordinate passion for the amusing, funny, 
sensational, sentimental and exciting side of life, without reading 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 347 

anything to cultivate the serious, common-sense and practical side 
of life. The human mind is so constructed that it needs variety, 
and extremes in any direction are bad for that reason. I should 
also be opposed to people reading nothing but religious matter, 
especially dry, orthodox, sectarian works; not but these are well 
enough in their place, but to read them and nothing else would 
unbalance the mind, and make a one-sided, narrow-minded soul, 
with very little knowledge of the world and every-day life. Such 
a person would plunge into the very opposite extreme, as the 
dizzy and weak-minded novelist does who reads scarcely anything 
but love stories, newspapers and fiction. 

The church and its leaders are somewhat responsible and to 
blame for much of the skepticism and infidelity of the age, and a 
reform in those quarters would contribute largely to reducing the 
ranks of infidelity. Some of the bitterest skeptics are those who 
were once active church members, or connected with Christian 
families. I remember an old man in Iowa, with whom I boarded 
(and Iowa seems to be a good State for producing infidels and rais- 
ing hogs, and the two are very much alike in this respect that 
neither of them look above), who was at one time a very active 
church member. He was smart, intelligent and of a very practical 
turn of mind, but had a sloping off at the upper and fore part of the 
head where imitation and agreeableness are located. And if ever 
I met a man down on the churches, its preachers and members, he 
certainly was, and much or all of his animosity came from the 
treatment he received from his brethren; though I cannot say pos- 
itively who was right and who was wrong. He was a good illus- 
tration of my previous description of the cause of skepticism, that 
men with such kind of heads readily become skeptics or infidels, 
whether in the church or out, whenever any kind of religious per- 
secution or restraint is brought to bear upon them. It is possible, 
of course, the man was never really converted, but I shall not discuss 
that point here. One thing, however, is certain: such characters 
when they unite with a church need careful treatment from the 
hands of their brethren and sisters, and there is where phrenology 
would be a great help to church people, especially the pastor and 
deacons, in knowing one another's peculiarities better, and thus be 
enabled to manage and control each other better. I came near 
leaving the church myself once, even went so far as to ask them to 



348 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

erase my name, but I found I could not leave that way, I had got 
in and could not get out without being expelled, and as there was 
no charge against me there was no alternative but to remain or do 
something to cause them to expel me. I reconsidered the matter, 
saw where my rash act was going to land me, and concluded to 
remain. I confess my own head is constructed a little on the skep- 
tical order, and when some little difficulty hardly worth mentioning 
sprang up between me and some of the deacons (though I had some 
occasion for it, as the deacons did not understand the facts of the 
case), I acted the part of a fool by letting my mule bump get ex- 
cited till I became somewhat refractory and hard to manage. The 
deacons, however, for some reason took a wise course, left me alone 
and I soon cooled down and never got my back up again. But if 
they had persisted and I had not reconsidered my intentions and 
saw my error I might have been— well, not perhaps a skeptic or a 
doubter of Christianity, but so soured in my disposition as to be 
very little short of it. Thus a knowledge of my own weakness and 
disposition to fly off from orthodoxy and religious restraint has 
shown me the necessity of guarding against it, and led me to see 
how easy it is for hundreds, yea, thousands of others, to do the 
same thing. 

A man's faith, and religion also, very often depends upon his 
feelings; it ought not to be so, save in a limited degree, but it is, 
nevertheless, the case. And for this reason I hold that the social 
system of our churches is wrong; it does not produce a right feel- 
ing" in the hearts of those who are in the church or outside of it. 
Thus, with a wrong social system, a good deal of religious sham and 
insincerity among the members, and the large number of humbugs 
who occupy the pulpit, it is hardly to be wondered at that there is 
such a wide-spread tendency to indifference and skepticism con- 
cerning Christianity. So much of the spirit of the world has got 
into the church, so much selfishness, pride, vanity and fashion, that 
it is often difficult to draw the line of distinction between the Chris- 
tian and the worldling. The result is, that instead of church mem- 
bers acting out and extending the Spirit of Christ, they more 
frequently exhibit the spirit of the world, and in their daily inter- 
course with others manifest worldly cunning, instead of frank, open, 
Christian principle. This makes the worldly man regard religion 
as a sham, and its professors hypocrites and frauds, and is often 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 349 

the starting point of his skepticism. Then the most of church 
members are so cold-hearted in their worship that they do not 
inspire any religious feeling or interest in the hearts of the uncon- 
verted. Indeed, how could they, when they have so little of it 
themselves? They do not act in that half-hearted way in their 
business affairs, they are all alive when it comes to buying, selling 
or making a bargain; all alive in courting and getting married, and 
everything else pertaining to this life; but almost dead in spiritual 
matters. Now if Christians want to commend their religion to 
others and save men, they should show some earnest, active, loving 
disposition in that direction. Make everybody they come in con- 
tact with feel the power and warmth of the religion in their own 
souls-; let it shine in every act, speak in every word, sing in every 
song, and breathe in every prayer; then skeptics will soon see, feel, 
and know there is a living power and reality in the religion of Jesus 
Christ. Why, I went into a fashionable church in Rochester, N. Y., 
one Sabbath, and discovered that the congregation were so luke- 
warm that they could not get up energy enough to do any singing 
till the last hymn, when they were about going home. Then they 
had got warmed up, and were glad they were going home, and so 
sang for joy. Or, perchance, the pupils of their eyes were not ex- 
panded enough to permit them to read the words and music of the 
hymns by the dim, miserable light that came through the abomina- 
ble stained-glass windows that were put in chiefly for show. In the 
afternoon, or right after church service, I went to the Sunday-school. 
There were twelve teachers absent; two of them were sick, but 
where the other ten were no information was given; too lazy or 
indifferent to be there, I suppose. One class of boys were left to 
amuse themselves in general conversation and laughter, because, as 
I was told, they would have no strange teacher, and would behave 
better by themselves. And I presume the reason why the boys 
disliked strange teachers was because almost anybody is seized 
upon to fill a vacancy in a Sunday-school. Everybody is not fit to 
teach; some have such little capability for teaching, and such a 
small stock of knowledge to teach from, that they would create a 
dislike in the minds of pupils for the Sunday-school rather than a 
love for it. I suppose, all things considered, it was better to let 
the boys sit in Sunday-school even without a teacher, than be 
out racing the streets, but it would have been a good deal better 



350 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

and more to the credit of that large church, for some one to have 
been there to teach them. 

I sometimes think that after a church has succeeded in erecting 
a fine building to worship in, they say to themselves, " Soul, take 
thine ease," and so fold their arms and settle down into a sublime 
state of soul-saving indifference. How many churches allow 
strangers to pass in and out and take no notice of them, and if they 
do, it is simply a cold, formal " How do you do? Are you a 
stranger?" "Yes." "Glad to have you come again." And so pass 
on with no more concern about his spiritual welfare or temporal 
happiness than they would have for a chicken out in their neigh- 
bor's yard. And if the stranger is poorly dressed, he may be very 
thankful if he gets any notice taken of him at all. That is not the 
way to draw strangers to church. They need something more 
attractive than a printed notice hung up in a hotel with the words, 
"Strangers welcome," printed at the bottom. The stranger wants 
to feel that those words are not dead words, but mean something; 
that there is warmth, genuine sociability and a cordial shake of the 
hand, not simply by two or three of the old deacons, but by the 
ladies and young members as well. What ! you say, our wives and 
daughters speak to a stranger they never saw or heard of before? 
Yes, why not ? They can do it at a fair or some kind of church 
entertainment when they want to get money out of him, and why 
not in a spirit of Christian sociability which is the more necessary 
and commendable of the two occasions for so doing? I am not 
talking about courting and love-making just now, but Christian 
courtesy and soul-saving. If you want to reach the human heart 
you must do it by personal contact as well as by preaching; a few 
kind words and looks will go a long way toward backing up th~ 
pastor's sermon and maKe the stranger desire to return again. No 
wonder so many do not care to go to church when there is so iiule 
of the home-like feeling shown there. 

I fear, also, that the method of teaching in our Sabbath schools 
is fast degenerating. Many of the teachers are not consecrated to 
their work, are not earnest, devoted, self-denying persons, and if 
anyone will take the pains to visit a few Sabbath schools and watch 
the teachers, they will find many of them, especially the young 
ladies, pass the time in ordinary chit-chat, and having or allowing 
the pupils to have a good time among themselves. Of course, I 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 35 I 

believe there should be cheerfulness and sociability between the 
members and the teacher of a class, but this careless, free-and-easy, 
half-hearted way of teaching God's truth is not the way to impress 
it upon the minds of young people. It is mere child's play, and it 
is high time that class of teachers were being taught themselves 
and their services dispensed with, as teachers. The fact is, there 
are too many theater-going, dancing, novel-reading and worldly- 
minded people of both sexes filling important positions in our Sun- 
day schools and church work, and the churches themselves are too 
busy and too often engaged getting up concerts, fairs and half- 
theatrical performances or some other tomfoolery to raise money 
and give the young people a chance to show off, to look after the 
matter. I have frequently visited these fairs in various parts of the 
country, and it is really abominable to see how some of the older 
members and even the old ladies will rig themselves up in ridiculous 
costumes and powder their faces to look funny and attract atten- 
tion, while the young girls will dress themselves in costumes that 
will allow them to display feminine charms and catch beaus or win 
admiration. Now, I do not think such performances that run into 
absurdities of dress and mere show and fun, right in the sanctuary 
of the Almighty, tend to any good results for either saint or sinner. 
Not but what these performances, or some of them at least, may be 
well enough in a proper place, if got up for purely social and merry- 
making purposes, but when they are mixed up with religion itself 
and for the object of coaxing money out of men's pockets, by ap- 
pealing to their amative natures through female charms and frivol- 
ity; I think it is too much like the old Jews who sold doves and 
exchanged money in the temple under religious pretenses, but 
really for selfish purposes, and were whipped out by our Lord — the 
only time we have any record of his using physical force. Such 
practices tend to demoralize rather than spiritualize either saints 
or sinners, And as to the still worse practice of getting up lotteries 
in a church, I have only to say it is a religious way of gambling and 
ought to be punished like any other system of gambling. I heard, 
when in Syracuse, New York, that pianos used to be gambled or 
raffled off at church fairs, and that men who wanted one would risk 
a hundred dollars or more and then not get it. The man wanted a 
piano, hence risked his money, expecting to get one cheap. These 
tricks and devices make the ungodly man sneer and look upon 



352 .INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

Christians with contempt. It strengthens his skepticism, because 
he sees worldliness, tortoise-like, peeping its ugly head from under 
its shell of religious profession. 

Sharp, dishonest tricks among Christians tend to skepticism, 
also, as well as all kinds of meanness. How much faith, think you, 
will a worldly man have in Christianity when he feels and knows 
by experience and observation that he has to watch and be just as 
guarded in doing business with church members as with men of the 
world? Indeed, there are plenty of men who would rather trust or 
put confidence in a man who makes no profession of religion, than 
one who does. A mean and stingy Christian will do as much 
toward making skeptics as an infidel. 

I hold, then, that the church is to blame for a large percentage 
of skepticism. They are preaching against it, talking against it, 
and fighting it in some form or other, wherever they find it, and 
yet at the same time doing the very things to produce it. And I 
would suggest in kindness to the churches of all denominations that 
are really in earnest to save men and do away with skepticism, and 
whose chief hobby is not to build fine churches merely for society, 
denominational or business purposes, that they raise their voice 
against all bare-faced or unbearded preachers. Can any one im- 
agine Jesus Christ, whom they profess to imitate, tramping over 
the land of Palestine with a razor, soap-box and lather-brush to 
make his face look like that of a scalded and scraped hog? Or can 
any one imagine him with his beard and whiskers shaved off, and a 
heavy mustache, making him look more like a sporting man or a 
circus agent or a horse jockey, than a preacher of the gospel? No; 
I imagine Jesus Christ wore on his face the garment of nature, and 
thus impressed his hearers with the fact that he was a plain, com- 
mon-sense man, not a fashionable monkey fixed up for the occasion, 
to please the whims of others who have more fashion and folly 
than they have piety. How disgusting to see a man enter the pul- 
pit with a round, full, smooth, pudding face adorned with a huge 
mustache which he keeps twisting, playing and fooling with all 
through the sermon ! My idea is that a minister's looks ought to 
harmonize with his profession, and there should be that in his 
appearance that will impress men favorably and have an influence 
over them for good. A man's face and expression goes a long way 
in making people believe what he says or represents; much farther 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 353 

than the most of people imagine. And these worldly, fashionable, 
half-monkey and half-hog looking faces placed in the pulpit are not 
apt to impress men with spiritual truth, because their words and 
faces are too much at variance. A man's looks ought to harmonize 
with his calling just as much as his character — a fact entirely 
ignored by churches and theological seminaries. There should be 
harmony in looks, character, ability and profession; these, properly 
blended, will make a successful preacher and pastor. 

I very much question if the Lord has ever called one-half the 
men who are occupying pulpits at the present time. I do not 
believe God calls men to a position they are not fit for, especially to 
be his ministering servants. Business men do not employ people 
whom they think are not fit for the work they want done, and in 
selecting help they go by looks and manner to a great extent, 
whether they recognize physiognomy or not. All the world over 
people patronize men in their various professions and place confi- 
dence in them purely on account of their facial expression. A 
business man will trust one stranger when he will refuse another, 
probably in ten minutes afterward. Custom-house officers will pass 
one person's baggage without hardly looking at it, whereas with an- 
other they will turn their trunks and baggage inside out and make 
a thorough examination — all through the looks and manner of the 
person; the one they believe and have confidence in, the other they 
have not. Frequently I have been patronized in my own profession 
merely on the expression of my face, and the reader will please 
pardon these personal allusions that may look like conceit or van- 
ity, but which I give only to illustrate the point in question, and 
because I know that in relating my own experience I am stating 
facts. When in the Chicago Exposition one fall some years ago, a 
man whom I had noticed in front of my stand came inside and had 
his head examined, and after I was through with him he told me 
that he did not know me by reputation, but before coming in took 
a good look at me and said he concluded I understood my business, 
and so had confidence to invest his money. When lecturing in a 
college in New York state, the teacher in elocution had a class which 
he intended to take charge of the same hour that my lecture came 
off; but he happened to see me as I entered the college hall, changed 
his mind, went in and dismissed his class, came and heard my lec- 
ture in company with his wife, had me visit his home and examine 



354 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

his head after the lecture, and bought a set of my books; all because 
he had confidence in my appearance. On another occasion a 
clergyman made arrangements with me in a few minutes to lecture 
in his church, without seeing or asking for a single recommenda- 
tion, simply by my face as he afterwards told me. One more inci- 
dent. While visiting a certain summer resort, a medical man who 
kept an institute and summer boarding house, and also believed in 
phrenology, had given his guests, among whom were some promi- 
nent clergymen, a parlor lecture on that subject, but had only 
succeeded in awakening opposition, and the preachers were talking 
about getting up an opposition lecture. Meanwhile I happened to 
call on the doctor, and arranged to give them my lecture on phys- 
iognomy. The clergymen were present to hear me and listened 
very attentively, sitting close in front of me. At the conclusion of 
my discourse I happened to examine their heads and faces. I saw 
they were intelligent men and good subjects, though I did not 
know them, nor had I ever met them before. One of them after- 
wards walked down the street with me, warmly thanked me for the 
discourse and endorsed my science, and I learned from another 
gentleman the next day that the clergymen had changed their 
opinions about phrenology, and one of them who preached the 
following Sabbath, read a notice in the largest church in the place 
of another lecture I was to give in one of the churches. 

This last incident illustrates why one preacher, addressing one 
or more skeptics, will simply make them greater skeptics, while 
another will be instrumental in converting them. Insincerity, 
incapacity and worldliness is too strongly marked in the faces of a 
great many preachers for them to ever accomplish much good. 
They ought to go into some other business for which they are 
better fitted. Hundreds of them do drift into other callings, 
though I cannot see how a man who believes he is called of God 
to preach the gospel, and really is, can ever do anything but 
preach. He is supposed to be set apart to the work for life; he is 
not like a business man or speculator who can go at anything he 
can make the most money at. If a man finds he is mistaken in his 
calling, the sooner he leaves it the better for himself and the church, 
too. But he has no right to leave it simply from a financial 
point of view. The Lord will always feed his faithful servants. 
But when men, possessing a large share of cunning and policy 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 355 

rather than truth and wisdom, get into the pulpit, men who are 
naturally politicians rather than ministers, it is quite likely the 
Lord will let such men take care of themselves, and they invariably 
do it. Cunning and policy always take care of number one. Self 
first, and the church and humanity next. Quite a number of 
clergymen have some other hobby-horse to ride besides preaching. 
They are probably horse-jockeys in a small way, or speculators in 
real estate, or are lending money. I know of a Baptist preacher 
who had more talent for speculating in real estate than he had for 
preaching. There was nothing in his facial expression to mag- 
netize an audience or convince men of sin and win them to Christ. 
Oh, but you say, or the Christian reader will, that it is the work of 
the spirit to convict and convert. Yes, but the spirit works upon 
hearts through human means, human faces and voices, and there- 
fore the spirit will work far more powerfully and successfully 
through some faces and voices and talents than it will through 
others. The history of the church and Christianity proves this 
conclusively. A man's face, voice and magnetism is what adds to 
his talents and makes them effective; they are supplementary, but 
essential to intellectual and moral adaptation. The beard and 
whiskers are one of nature's distinctions between the sexes, and for 
men, especially clergymen, to shave their faces till they look like 
children or women, is about as bad or as unnatural as to see a 
woman with a beard, or mustache, or her hair cut off short. The 
beard gives a dignified and venerable appearance, protects the 
throat, helps to ward off bronchitis, and is indicative of a mascu- 
line nature — the sign of virility. The natural absence of it, that 
is where it does not grow, shows the lack of virility, just as hair on 
the upper lip, or anywhere on the face of a woman, shows a strong 
constitution and masculine nature. Hence a man may almost as 
well shave his head as his face, and if some lunatic in high life 
would only start the fashion I suppose the rest would follow. In 
fact, I remember one preacher who used to shave the hair back at 
the top of his forehead to give the appearance of a high forehead, 
I suppose. Still, he pretended not to believe in phrenology. "The 
Lord made man upright," and as he ought to be, "but he has 
sought out many inventions," and this is one of them, — scalping 
and disfiguring the face. Women disfigure their faces, and make 
themselves look ridiculous by frizzing and banging their hair down 



35^ INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

to the eyebrows (the style that some call lunatic fringe), and the 
men, preachers included, do just the opposite — cut the hair off so 
as to make themselves look different from what nature intended. 
Ministers, and in fact all Christians are a peculiar people, supposed 
to be chosen out of the world and set apart from the world; weaned 
from the fashions and follies of a wicked, vanity-stricken world, 
and some of them, I am happy to say, are; but with a good many 
it would be very difficult to tell the difference between one of them 
and a lawyer, a gambler, business man, prize-fighter or horse- 
jockey. An amusing incident will illustrate this point. Some time 
ago a physiognomist was passing by a house or place of business 
where a number of gentlemen were congregated, and putting his 
head in the window or doorway, remarked, "I can tell any man's 
business by looking at his face." Well, it happened there were 
some clergymen inside, and among them a Methodist minister who 
was very fond of horses, and bought and traded horses to some 
extent, or as far as he had time and opportunity to do so; and 
being one of those positive, self-confident sort of characters, he 
thought he would accept Mr. Physiognomist's challenge, and try 
his skill, which he did to his complete satisfaction. Having invited 
him inside, he said: "Now, sir, tell me what my business is." The 
physiognomist eyed him keenly for a minute, and said: "You are 
either a Methodist preacher or a horse-jockey - -I cannot exactly 
say which." He would most likely have made a good horse-jockey 
if he had given his attention to that business entirely, and, for all I 
know, a good minister if his whole mind and talent had been 
devoted to that work. But there is a wide range of difference 
between trading horses and saving souls, and the man who wishes 
to be successful in either pursuit must give his entire attention to 
it and study that only. I have not much faith in horse-jockey or 
real-estate speculating preachers, or any preachers who mix worldly 
business with their spiritual work. And I apprehend there would 
be more souls saved and less skeptics made if preachers and Chris- 
tians generally were more careful in reference to their personal 
appearance and habits; if they only looked and acted as preachers 
and Christians should. Surely it must be apparent to any reflect- 
ing mind that to foster a spirit of worldliness, and adopt the fash- 
ionable follies of life, must in time weaken the spirituality not only 
of individuals but the whole church, and thereby open the way to 
formality, coldness, indifference and skepticism. 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 357 

Who can tell the difference between a woman of the world and 
a woman of the church by their appearance or looks, unless it be a 
quakeress or a nun? Christian women puff, braid, plait and frizz 
their hair just as much as worldly women do, thereby cultivating a 
spirit of vanity and selfishness which is antagonistic to the spirit of 
Christianity. I am not advocating that Christian people should go 
to extremes and make themselves odd and ridiculous in the eyes of 
others by paying no attention whatever to prevailing styles and 
fashions; but there is a medium in all things, and Christians can 
dress nice and fix their hair in a neat, becoming manner without 
aping the extreme fashions and covering up their foreheads which 
God made for beauty as well as use. If the Lord had thought that 
women would look better with their hair down to their eyebrows, 
or crimped and frizzed all over, I presume he would have made it 
that way when he created woman. Think of the time women 
waste in crimping, frizzing and fussing with their hair. Some of 
them spend an hour at a time, and the average young woman must 
peep into a looking-glass about every half hour or less, if she has 
the chance, to see how her frizzes look. Can any woman, young or 
old, do this day after day and month after month, for years, with- 
out developing a vain feeling which must proportionately diminish 
spirituality. In this respect Christians are skeptics themselves, 
because they practically ignore those passages of scripture which 
forbid the braiding and plaiting of the hair. When we take into 
consideration how the country is completely and constantly flooded 
with such a variety of worldly and sinful amusements, the vast 
quantity of light, trashy and obscene literature that is read, the 
private sins that both sexes indulge in, the lectures and books on 
infidelity that are delivered and published, and the inconsistencies, 
lukevvarmness and spirit of vanity and worldliness among Christians, 
we need not wonder at the prevalence of skepticism and infidelity 
in this land of bibles. And to point out the various causes is to 
suggest the remedy. 

The church has allowed itself to become demoralized through 
the influence of the popular amusements of the day upon its young 
and middle-aged members, and even some of the older ones. The 
effect is seen in the light-headed, irreverent conduct of a large per- 
centage of church-going people. It is an every Sunday occurrence 
to see people talk, whisper and smile at one another, or at some- 



353 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

thing the minister has said in his discourse that strikes their funny 
natures. They are always ready to notice whatever is amusing or 
sensational, thereby showing a sad lack of reverence for the place 
and the occasion. Going to church with some is very much like 
going to a matinee; they go to see, be seen, and to be entertained 
by the singing, if there is a good choir, or perhaps to hear an elo- 
quent or sensational preacher. Somewhere in my travels I heard a 
special sermon on training children, which I thought was a very 
important and serious subject, as it certainly ought to be. After 
the preacher was through with his discourse the choir struck up, 
u O where is my wandering boy to-night?" when many of the audi- 
ence commenced to smile. What the irreverent fools saw to smile 
at I do not know, unless they were thinking about the sharp tricks 
of young America. But if some day these thoughtless, smiling 
simpletons should happen to have a wandering, dissipated boy, that 
gave them trouble enough to break their hearts with grief, they 
would most likely get over their smiling fits and laugh out of the 
other side of their mouths. Such performances in church is what I 
call making a grand farce of religion. It shows a lack of reverence 
for God and respect for themselves. When we go to the house of 
God we ought to go reverently, thoughtfully, respectfully, humbly 
and prayerfully, just as though we were entering into the immediate 
presence of the Almighty, and not as though we were going to a 
matinee, where many of these same people go through the week 
and get saturated with nonsense and frivolity which they do not 
forget or refuse to cast aside on the Sabbath. I do not mean that 
it is necessary for a man to sit in church and look as long-faced and 
sad as though he had just buried his dearest friend. I believe in 
serving the Lord in cheerfulness and fervor of heart, but not that 
kind of cheerfulness that springs from mirthfulness and runs into 
frivolity and irreverence. When in Washington, D. C., one winter, 
I went into a prominent church on a Sabbath evening and found 
there was a Sabbath school anniversary entertainment or else 
Easter services. The church was packed, as it always is when 
there is anything like an entertainment, because that is more palat- 
able than the gospel is, even to the religious 'classes. It was a 
regular show, almost as good as a circus. I got a seat in the rear 
of the church, two or three pews from the door. As soon as I was 
seated I found there was a crowd of young men and girls behind 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 



359 



me who were having a high time. A lot of religious flirts and two 
or three young ladies had gents sitting on each side of them, and a 
few more standing up behind. They were laughing and talking 
out loud and holding a regular matinee among themselves, while 
waiting for the performance of the school to begin. So I looked 
round at them pretty sharp a time or two, thinking I might shame 
them; it was no use, however; I might as well have gone out and 
looked up at the stars and tried to stop their twinkling, as to think 
of cooling their jubilant natures by simply looking at them; so 
being terribly annoyed and knowing, it would be kept up more or 
less the whole evening, I turned around and asked one of the young 
men, "Is this a church or a theater?" "This is a church," said he. 
"Well, then," said I, "why do you not act as though you were in 
church?" Said he, "I suppose we can laugh if we want to." "No 
you can not," said I, and I left the seat, went outside and found one 
of the deacons, took him to the door and pointed them out. By 
this time they had got straight faces on them. They found out I 
was determined, but the deacon did nothing but look indifferently, 
as though he was afraid to say anything. They most likely 
belonged to some of the prominent members. These are just the 
kind of sap-heads who feel they have more privileges than anybody 
else -and can do just as they please. 

Some churches make a business of getting up some special at- 
traction for Sunday service occasionally, just to draw a crowd and 
get a big collection. In Saratoga and other summer resorts, the 
local preachers rival each other in trying to get the biggest gun to 
preach for them, so as to get large audiences and large collections 
to help pay for a big church they have run heavily in debt to 
build. Or, if a noted actress and singer makes her appearance 
there during the season, she is probably invited to the choir to sing 
for them, and then there is a general excitement and rushing of 
members and people from other churches to hear her sing; just out 
of curiosity or on account of her fame. Some of the more conscien- 
tious or conscience-stricken runaways stay long enough to hear the 
opening singing, and then leave and creep into their own churches 
with hung-down heads and ashamed looks just in time to hear their 
own minister preach; thus creating disturbance and confusion in 
two churches. But then that is nothing, of course, if they can only 
satisfy their curiosity and a weak, deluded conscience at the same 



360 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

time. At Ocean Grove, one summer, a great resort for Methodists, 
I attended a camp service one Sunday, and saw the most disgrace- 
ful scene I ever witnessed at any religious meeting. They had two 
places erected for holding services, one being entirely enclosed for 
use in bad weather. The other was designed for out-door wor- 
ship, there being simply a covering overhead, seats and platform for 
pulpit and music. In the morning a prominent D. D. preached for 
them, who was well known to them either personally or by reputa- 
tion. But in the evening they had a lesser gun, who was not so 
well known nor so great a preacher, though I presume a good man 
and probably a good pastor. But he failed to come up to the 
expectations of the immense gathering, and had not been speaking 
long before they began to get up and go out, not merely from the 
rear and outside, but from the center and fore part of the audience 
as well. It was not because they could not hear nor on account of 
the heat, because it was an ordinary summer evening, and being 
near the ocean, cooler than it was in a regular church. The stam- 
pede (for that is about what it was) continued thicker and faster, 
and after they had been going out two, four, and from that to a 
dozen at a time, for about ten or fifteen minutes, and seeing the 
thing was going to keep up I began to count them, and I counted 
over two hundred others, so that altogether there must have been 
about four hundred who left while the preacher was speaking, just 
because they did not like him. It was what I should call a regular 
religious circus, because they evidently went there with a sort of 
curiosity to hear somebody preach and were disappointed, as mere 
curiosity and pleasure seekers generally are, and so having little 
reverence or respect for either the Lord, whom they professed to 
love and worship, or the preacher or themselves, they left. Nor 
were they the unconverted class. A few of them, of course, might 
have been, but the majority were Methodists or religious people, 
because it was and is a religious watering-place, and jealously 
guarded and regulated as such. I suppose the difference was, that 
being at a watering-place, away from home influence and the ordi- 
nary restraints of city life, where they have to act just so for the 
sake of common politeness, they thought they were free to do just 
as they pleased. And it is astonishing how many people there are 
who leave their good manners at home when they go to summer 
resorts. They seem to think they are at liberty to do just as they 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 361 

please with the church, the preacher, the hotel and boarding-house 
keeper, and everybody else. Just because they have got a little 
money to spend, they seem to think everybody must submit to 
their whims and wants, and be treated as they feel disposed. Now, 
I cannot see why people should not serve the Lord in the summer 
time with the same reverence and humility as in the winter; at a 
resort as well as at home; nor can I see the propriety of nearly 
every city preacher clearing out during the months of July and 
August, so that it is sometimes difficult to find one to attend a 
funeral. All such performances tend to produce a spirit of religious 
dissipation that in the end works mischief. Whatever becomes 
fashionable with the world, seems to be taken up by the church and 
preachers, if not exactly in the same then in a modified form. I 
believe in ministers having rest, but it is strange they all want it 
about the same time and same season of the year. They work 
themselves to death almost, about the beginning of every New Year 
holding special meetings, wearing their people out, also, in order to 
work up a periodical religious excitement, and then when spring 
and summer comes they are played out physically and mentally, 
and so away they go for two months rest, and leave their people 
and the city to which they belong to the mercy of the Devil, who 
keeps at his business all the year round, and especially when the 
preachers are holding jubilee at some religious circus by the sea- 
side, or some other place. Still they wonder there is so much skep- 
ticism in the country, wonder why people do not come to church, 
and why so many go out and come in at all hours during religious 
services. 

People have caught this restless and irreverent spirit which 
prompts them to go in and out of a church or lecture hall just when 
they please, largely through the example and influence of theaters, 
balls, parties, and other places of amusement, where no serious 
disturbance is caused by so doing. Men can go in and out between 
the acts at a theater to guzzle beer without disturbing the perform- 
ance or showing disrespect. When the orchestra is playing and 
there is fun or excitement on the stage, it does not make much 
difference about some one going in or out, because the noise and 
excitement counteracts the slight distraction caused by the indi- 
vidual; though it is best to maintain order and quiet everywhere. 
But in a church or in a lecture hall it is particularly desirable that 



362 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

respectful attention and quiet should pervade the entire assembly; 
that they come early and remain till the close. I do not believe a 
man has any right to go in and out of a church just when he takes 
a notion to do so. In one sense he has, of course. He is a free 
agent, and there is no rule or law to the contrary. But from a 
moral and reverential point of view, he has not. It is a polite way 
of insulting the Almighty; it is a skeptical act and opens the door 
of the mind to skepticism, because the person who does it prac- 
tically denies the restraining power and claim of religion upon him 
or over his will. He really says, "I am a free man in the matter of 
worship, and am guided by my own will rather than that of the 
church or Christ." He may not mean this but his actions say so. 
What I mean is, he is not a docile, tractable, submissive being, 
willing to yield to the will of another; and that kind of spirit is 
skepticism and infidelity right out, even though such a person may 
never become a regular skeptic and may even be a church member. 
The act springs from a skeptical or irreligious spirit, rather than a 
Christian spirit. 

Another great mistake that church people make is, that they 
entirely ignore the influence of the body upon the soul. They 
seem to think that the soul is the only thing worth troubling them- 
selves about. I have already referred to the influence the soul and 
spirit have upon the body, and now wish particularly to call atten- 
tion to the fact that the various conditions of the body likewise 
change the state or character of the soul. Body and soul work 
together, and whatever affects the one must necessarily affect the 
other. If such was not the case, the body would be of no use to 
the soul, nor the soul to the body, in this life. Then again, what- 
ever affects the body or produces changes in it from external 
sources, such as climate and food, will indirectly affect the soul, or 
at least some of its faculties or propensities (using soul here in its 
general and unlimited sense, including the inner man). Whatever 
degrades the body degrades the soul also, and a man's moral sen- 
sibilities, as well as his intellectual power, will depend upon how 
he lives, what he eats and drinks, and the kind of atmosphere he 
breathes. Pure food of the right kind, well cooked and properly 
eaten, with plenty of pure air, well breathed, will make a better 
body, and through it a better soul, than poor food badly prepared 
and improperly eaten, in connection with impure air. A soul that 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 363 

has to inhabit a diseased and low organization of flesh and blood, 
cannot feel, think and act the same as it would in a purer organi- 
zation. Hence, if the church wants people to become Christians 
instead of skeptics, let them advocate a system of diet that will 
tend to feed and stimulate the moral organs of the brain, and 
through them, the moral faculties. And in proportion as the 
moral is developed will the animal propensities be kept down; 
because the kind of food that will feed the moral and intellectual 
faculties of a man is not the kind to feed the propensities with. If 
you want to make men more susceptible to intellectual and moral 
influences, make finer and purer bodies and minds by feeding them 
on fruits, nuts, grains and vegetables. But if you want to do the 
opposite thing, and make animals out of them, let them eat chiefly 
animal food, especially hog meat and oysters, spice and pepper 
their food extravagantly, guzzle down lots of lager beer and stimu- 
lants, and there will be no danger of their growing over-pious or 
becoming crazy on religious subjects. I claim that hog meat not 
only lowers the quality of the body and brain, but makes men 
more stubborn and hoggish in nature. One incident will illustrate 
this point, which was given to me by the superintendent of the 
State Reformatory, at Elmira, N. Y. They had a young girl in 
charge who was so obstinate they could do hardly anything with 
her. So they concluded to try an experiment with her by way of 
diet, and gave her less to eat, but finer and better food. In a year 
she was a changed girl, milder and more submissive. But about 
that time a farmer came and took her to his home, but was cau- 
tioned to be careful about feeding her. He evidently did not 
believe that doctrine, and probably had too much hog in his own 
make-up (as most farmers have) to be influenced by anybody on 
the subject of eating. In about six months the girl returned, as 
big a brute as ever, when the same process of dieting was gone 
through with, and the same results followed. The above incident 
is not fiction, but a fact. The girl's willful, brutish nature was 
changed by feeding the moral and intellectual more than the 
animal propensities. Just think of it! Some families almost live 
on hogs; like one I heard of who averaged a hog each every six 
months. A lady in visiting the family noticed they had just killed 
six hogs. Six months afterward she called there again, and noticed 
they were killing more. "Why," said she, "what have you done with 



364 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

the others — sold them?" "Bless you, no," was the reply, "we have 
eaten them. There are six of us in the family, and that was only 
a hog apiece." Then, noticing they had sores or swellings all over 
their hands, she asked them what they were. One of them said 
they were what they called "hog-risings;" and I expect that is 
what the girl in the State Reformatory had which made her so 
perverse and ungovernable. She had hog-risings, only in another 
form. Hers was a mental manifestation of hog-rising; whereas in the 
case of the family referred to, they were physical, or hand-risings. 
Both were hog manifestations, only the one showed the body of 
the hog, so to speak, and the other the disposition of the hog, 
neither form being conducive to spirituality of mind. I do not 
say, however, that diet will take the place of the Bible and conver- 
sion — that people can be fed into a perfect religious state. But I 
do say that proper diet and living is an accessory of Bible teach- 
ings; that it will make men more docile and susceptible to moral 
influence; that the man who takes care of his body will be a better 
and purer-minded Christian than the one who neglects his body, 
and eats and lives like the majority of men. The pugilist and 
athlete trains and diets his body, and ought not men who have to 
contend with the passions and temptations of the flesh to prepare 
their bodies for the contest? The man who lives on a rich and 
extravagant diet will not so easily fall in love with a religion of 
self-sacrifice, in which it becomes necessary to keep the body in 
subjection, as one who has lived on a plain but wholesome diet, 
calculated to stimulate the intellectual and moral faculties rather 
than the propensities. By a plain diet I do not mean a sort of 
bread-and-water living. I mean good, substantial fare. But in- 
stead of spoiling the food with all sorts of useless and injurious 
condiments and spices, that only irritate the nervous system and 
excite the passions, let it be prepared in a simple and wholesome 
way, and instead of eating so much mere muscle and fat forming 
food, eat more brain-food. 

Again, I have no faith in that false religious sentimentalism that 
seems to exalt sickness over health, and considers the former more 
subservient to the glory of God than the latter. True, when the 
animal nature is subdued by a spell of sickness and the subject feels 
as though there was a prospect or danger of his leaving this world, 
the spiritual life may be awakened, and it may lead the soul nearer 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 365 

to its Maker. But the piety that springs from a sick-bed is gen- 
erally a sickly sort of piety, and the pious thoughts of such persons 
are generally about themselves, their own welfare, and the time 
when they will pass over the other side of Jordan. It is a weak, 
selfish kind of piety, because they are not able to do much for 
others and generally need a good deal of spiritual as well as bodily 
nursing. The piety, however, that springs from a strong, vigorous, 
healthy, pure or refined body is of a different kind. It is a healthy, 
powerful, useful kind, it reaches out after others, carries the gospel 
far and wide, and instead of being troubled with gloomy forebodings 
as to its own present and future condition, is busy at work seeking 
the salvation of others. It is really painful to go into many of our 
prayer and experience meetings and hear the miserable, soul- 
clouded and morbid remarks and experiences of a large proportion 
of those who speak in such meetings. Their remarks are nearly 
always about themselves, how they feel and how they do not feel, 
and while thus speaking they put on such a dejected mien that they 
look like the last rose of summer; and instead of inspiring religious 
fervor and life in those present, give everybody the blues. The 
trouble with this class of Christians is that their livers and stomachs 
are out of order through bad diet; and that makes them see every- 
thing through a colored glass. Now, it stands to reason that if 
they had healthier and purer bodies, they would be more joyful in 
their feelings, would get up and talk in a happier and healthier tone 
and inspire religious life in their brethren and sisters; while those 
who were unsaved, seeing how happy Christians were, would want 
to become Christians; but as it is now, the world has an idea that 
religion is a sad, melancholy sort of thing, fit only for old maids 
and old people. No wonder many are slow to believe in Christian- 
ity and conform to its teachings. Let Christians cleanse their 
bodies and drive away the blues, so that they will feel like setting 
a better example, and then even skeptics may be constrained to 
imitate them and their Master. 

The last suggestion I have to offer for the development of spirit- 
uality of mind, is an occasional trip to the mountains or to live in 
some elevated region. There is something about mountain scenery, 
and the very air as well, that seems to lift the soul away from earth 
into the boundless universe beyond our vision; something that 
brings man into closer relationship with his Creator, and inspires 



366 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 

him with the presence and majesty of the Almighty. And who 
that has ever been among the grand old mountains cannot testify 
to this fact. I shall never forget a morning I spent upon the top 
of Mount Agassiz, at Bethlehem, New Hampshire. It was so 
grand and soul-inspiring that I seemed to be in a new world. The 
clear heavens above, green nature beneath, and an uninterrupted 
vision over the plains and hills for a hundred miles, was to me a 
powerful sermon not easily forgotten. But the most fascinating 
and perhaps impressive thing of all, and which makes Mount Agas- 
siz as desirable a place to visit as Mount Washington, if not more 
so, is the echo there. If a bugle is blown on one side of it, opposite 
some smaller mountains a short distance off, you not only hear the 
echo but six or eight distinct reverberations dying away in the dis- 
tance, which to me was the most inspiring, and shall I say heavenly, 
music I ever listened to. Nothing ever went down into my soul 
and lingered in my memory more vividly than those mountain 
echoes. The atmosphere, of course, as well as the mountains, was 
conducive to the musical reverberations. So I say that mountain 
air and scenery tend to lift the soul above the gross things of life 
and to spiritualize one's thoughts, unless it be some person who is 
so low in the human scale and high in the animal that he cannot 
appreciate the grand, the beautiful, the sublime and majestic in 
nature, and through nature look up to nature's God. Let a person 
live for awhile in the crowded and excited portions of a city like 
New York, and then hie away to mountain tops for a few days and 
then return again directly to the busy portions of the city and 
note the changes that take place in his feelings. How much 
purer his feelings and sentiments, how much nobler his impulses, 
and how much more he feels like living a pure life when on the 
mountains, than when he mingles with the busy and wicked throng 
of a great city. 

Is it not a significant fact that nearly all the great events in 
Bible history have taken place upon mountains. The temptation 
of Christ, the giving of the law to Moses, the forty days' fast, the 
transfiguration, the sermon in which the beatitudes were delivered, 
the burial of Moses, and the crucifixion of the Savior. It is also 
worthy of note that the land of Palestine, where Christ lived, 
preached and founded the Christian religion, is a land of moun- 
tains and hills, and Christ often resorted for prayer and spiritual 



INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 367 

refreshment to one of the mountains near at hand. The temple 
was not built in a valley, but upon Mt. Zion. Valleys are seldom 
used or referred to in Bible language, but as places of humiliation, 
suffering, battles and business. 

To recapitulate : Infidelity and skepticism are caused by in- 
herited tendencies which have imparted an irreligious nature; by 
deficiency of certain phrenological organs which renders the indi- 
vidual unsusceptible to religious influence; by bad training in 
early life which has resulted in prejudicing the mind against Bible 
truth; by false education in the way of literature, lectures and 
conversation, which has poisoned the mind and prevented the truth 
from springing into life; by the inconsistencies, coldness and 
worldliness of professing Christians whose words and acts have 
hardened the mind against the reception of spiritual knowledge. 
By placing the wrong kind of men in the pulpit who, instead of 
drawing men unto Christ, have repelled them; and by an injurious 
and mere animal system of diet that has developed the propensities 
and hindered the growth of the moral and spiritual faculties, there- 
by blunting man's susceptibilities to Christian and Divine influence. 
Having now enumerated these causes, the remedy is apparent. 
Reform, and do away with the evils described. 



368 INFIDELITY AND SKEPTICISM. 



THE BIBLE. 



'Tis a ray of purest light, 
Beaming through the depths of night, 
Brighter than ten thousand gems, 
Or the costliest diadems. 

'Tis an Orb — more radiant far 
Than the fairest evening star; 
Yea, the sun outshining even 
When it rides midway in heaven! 

'Tis a Fountain, pouring forth 
Streams of life to gladden earth; 
Whence eternal blessings flow, 
Antidote for human woe. 

'Tis an Ocean, vast and clear, 
In which rays divine appear, 
Bearing freight, the choicest store 
Ever borne the wide earth o'er. 

'Tis a Mine, far deeper, too, 
Than can mortal ever go; 
Search we may for many years, 
Still some new, rich gem appears. 

Blessed Bible! Precious Word! 
Boon most sacred from the Lord: 
Glory to His name be given 
For this best, rich gift of Heaven. 

— Anon, 




DERBY NELSON ANGELICA, 
Allegany County, New York. Aged 116 Years. 

Remembers Washington. Men ought to live about one hundred and fifty years, 
reasoning from analogy, providing they were born with strong healthy bodies (which are 
few) and adopt hygienic habits. The average life of the horse is twenty-five years; one- 
fifth, or five years of which is consumed in growing. Very few farmers think of hitching 
up or harnessing a colt until it is five years old. The average life of the dog is fifteen 
years; for three years, one-fifth of his life, he is a puppy, plays and looks like a puppy, 
and is not a full-grown dog until he is three years old. A man has not really completed 
his growth in every part of his body until he is thirty years of age, or about that. Jesus 
Christ did not begin his ministry until thirty years of age. Reckoning that as the age of 
manhood, which, according to the growth of animals, should be one-fifth of his natural 
life, he ought to sojourn in this world one hundred and fifty years, and then die of old 
age and not disease. 



HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY TO HEALTH 
AND OLD AGE. 



The Important Question — Man's Mistake — Bad Breath of Men and Women — Its Effect 
on Adults and Children — Silent Forces — The Five Senses — Their Use and Abuse — 
Their Perfection— Tobacco Chewers and Smokers — The Cause of Foul Breath — ■ 
Illustrations — Offensive Effluvia of some Persons — Its Cause and Remedy — Sense 
of Touch — Annoyance caused by its Deficiency — Awkward People — How they 
Spoil Books, etc. — Churches and Church Sextons — Improper Lighting, Heating 
and Ventilation of Churches and Halls — Effect of Light on the Mind — Shutting 
Light out of Dining Rooms — Poorly Kept Hotels and Boarding-houses — The Men 
who Keep them — Poor Food — Dirty Habits of Hotel Help — Kind and Quality of 
Food — Evil of too much hot Meats — Inconvenience of hot Meals — Need of a Rev- 
olution on the Subject of Eating and Living — How to Make pure Bodies— Cheap 
Restaurants — Diversity of Food needed for certain Purposes — A Cause of Drunk- 
enness — Cause of Weak Specimens of Humanity — Care and Worry as Affecting 
the Stomach— Lazy People — A Sick Wife — Two Sisters — Care of the Feet — Relation 
of Food to Character — Meats, Vegetables, Grains and Fruits: what they Feed — 
Man's Responsibility and Obligation to Preserve his Health — What Makes Bone — 
Sunlight — Development of Passion — How to Cure Biliousness — Baths — No need of 
People being Sick — Drugs and their Effect — The general Prevalence of Sickness 
— Impropriety of Charging it to the Lord — Physical Laws and Spiritual Laws — 
Cleanliness — What Wearies an Audience — Watering Places — Mineral Waters — 
Dis.-ipation in Fashionable Life — Over-eating — Sun Baths — Large and High 
Rooms — Using one's Nose — Fretting — Exercise of the Lungs — Necessity of being 
Temperate. 

The Turkish Bath — Very few People know much about this Bath — Curious Notions 
Entertained by some People — The Bath Described— The First or Sweating Process 
— Winter and Spring the best times for Taking this Bath — The Second Process of 
Hand Rubbing— The Good which this Accomplishes — The Bath good for Ladies 
who wish to be Beautiful— Also for tired Business Men — A Cure for Liver Troubles 
— How Often they should be Taken — Doctors and Phrenologists — Other Baths not 
as good as the Turkish. 



How to live is, or should be, one of the great questions of 
the age. It is a question that comes home to every one; a ques- 
tion upon which depends success or failure in life, and one upon 
the solution of which depends, to a very great extent, the eleva- 
tion of the race. I question if there is any subject people are 
more thoughtless and careless about, than their manner of living; 



370 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

the kind of food they eat, the liquids they drink, and the air 
they breathe, evidently command but little of their attention, 
thought or investigation. True, they are busily engaged in pro- 
viding for the wants of the body, and enjoying themselves in their 
own way; but whether their way is right or wrong, never seems to 
trouble them or become a subject of serious and intelligent consid- 
eration. They go through life blind to the things that pertain to 
their own interest, choosing rather to get sick and pay large doc- 
tors' services, than to inquire into the cause of their sickness, and 
thereby prevent it and save money, time and much suffering. I 
sometimes think that man is the greatest curiosity on earth, for he 
is very anxious to know all about everything but himself, and 
eager to peep into everything but his own heart, mind and phys- 
ical structure. Could we but look into our own bodies and see the 
condition of the stomach and the blood, and behold the rotten filth 
therein contained, we should blush with shame, and cease to won- 
der at the foul breath that emanates from so large a portion of 
mankind. When I use the term mankind, of course I include 
women as well as men; for I have met plenty of pure, refined and 
beautiful young women in every other respect, whose breath, figur- 
atively speaking, was strong enough and foul enough to knock a 
man over. And I have met lots of men whose breath and effluvia 
were so sickening, that when conversing with them I had to turn 
my head away or stand by the side of them. I have frequently had 
to examine just such individuals, and by the time I would get 
through with their heads, I would be almost ready to vomit. I 
would seem to taste it in my mouth and throat for the next half 
hour. In visiting schools and colleges I have met teachers and 
professors with breaths so sickening one would think they emanated 
from a dead animal or rotten eggs instead of a living being. Who, 
let me ask, with any taste or love for the beautiful and the pure, 
wants to marry such a man or woman ? Who wants to inhale day 
and night for thirty, forty or fifty years, a tainted atmosphere 
almost as bad as the infected air surrounding a putrefying corpse? 
Why, if we could only see with the naked eye the filth and corrup- 
tion that is in the air we too often breathe, we would shun it and 
run away from it as quickly as we would from the yellow fever or a 
box of dynamite; but because we cannot see it we swallow it and 
take for granted that it is all right. Children are sometimes made 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 37 1 

sick by having to inhale the bad breaths of adults, like a clergy- 
man's little boy whom I once examined and found sickly and 
irritable chiefly through sleeping with and inhaling night after 
night the breath of his nurse, who was an old woman. Alas ! how 
the poor and helpless children suffer for want of pure air which 
their parents or nurses deprive them of! The next thing to food, 
essential to the health of a child, is pure air, then washing and 
exercise. 

Let us bear in mind that the silent and unseen forces in nature 
are the most powerful and so the most corrupting influences of both 
soul and body are those we can not see with the physical eye. It is 
quite time that people aroused themselves in regard to the cause 
and cure of bad breath, strong or disagreeable effluvia and general 
sickness. I presume there are some persons who do not know 
what a stinking breath they have, but they can soon find out if they 
will just ask some pure-minded and keen-scented person to tell 
them. But they must be careful not to ask another who has breath 
as bad as their own, because as one poison will sometimes neutralize 
another, so one person with a foul breath may not notice it in an- 
other. People not only differ in their talents and faculties, but they 
differ in the acuteness of their physical senses; hence some are 
very quick to smell, while others are not. And I suppose God gave 
man five senses not merely for his enjoyment as an animal, but to 
protect his body from dangerous objects and agencies; that he 
might distinguish good food from bad food, pure liquids from im- 
pure, and fresh air from that which is vitiated and unfit to breathe. 
And if these senses were only kept in their natural condition and 
developed by men as they should be, they would be a safe guide to 
the health and development of the body. But men spoil at least 
three of their senses — I mean those of smell, taste and touch — 
that is, they blunt their sensibility by artificial and injurious living 
and bad habits. 

We have an illustration of the high perfection to which the 
senses may be developed by cultivation, in the inmates of blind 
asylums. The things they are capable of doing and making, and 
the easy manner in which they find their way through the rooms 
and all over one of those large buildings, is ample proof of the fact 
that our senses will carry us safely and soundly through life, if we 
will only use them as we ought. Everybody knows how strong and 



3/2 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

quick the sense of smell is in the dog; how he can trace and find 
his master, or an animal, by scent alone. And so with many of the 
cannibals, the sense of taste is so keenly developed, they can detect 
in a person the presence of tobacco and intoxicating liquors imme- 
diately, and do not care to eat that class of persons; they prefer to 
eat those whose bodies are young, tender and pure. They like 
Africans first and missionaries next, but not sailors. Remember, 
then, you liquor drinkers, tobacco chewers and smokers, that even 
the uncivilized cannibal dislikes you. One can often smell the 
breath of a tobacco chewer and whisky drinker two or three yards 
away from them, and I have seen the mouth and teeth of the former 
more nasty and sickening to look at than that of the dirtiest animal 
of the brute creation. A gentleman in bidding a lady good-bye 
remarked, he hoped they would meet again in heaven. "No," said 
she, "I do not expect to meet you there." "Why not?" said the 
astonished man. "Because," she replied, "only pure and sweet 
people are admitted into heaven, and your dirty tobacco habits will 
render you unfit." Of course, I do not say nor believe the use of 
tobacco will exclude a man from paradise, but I do most heartily 
believe that a man is much more acceptable to the Lord without 
being addicted to such a useless and degrading habit. Where is 
the young lady claiming any taste or common decency, that wants 
to kiss such a mouth as that, or lips that are constantly stained and 
slobbered all over with tobacco juice and spittle? And where is 
the woman who wants to take such a filthy man to her loving 
embrace as a husband; a man that will spit all over the floor and 
carpet, and make everything around him like a little pig-stye? 
Why, I have seen ministers going about with a plug of tobacco in 
their pockets, and a chew of it in their mouths, and their lips were 
simply disgusting; and yet, these dirty preachers are leaders and 
teachers of the people, pretending to tell them to love the good, 
the true and the beautiful. Think of doctors and professors of col- 
leges using the abominable weed ! What an example the latter and 
even the former set to young students. Imagine the president of 
a college chewing or smoking and spitting till the tobacco juice 
dribbles all down his beard and over his coat, and he finally rubbing 
it in with his hand! What think you, reader, of the refining or 
educational influence of such dirty habits? No wonder, then, that 
the physical senses of men are less keen than they might be, 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 373 

and that they do many things they would not do if they were 
more acute. 

Many suppose that an unpleasant breath comes from decayed 
or unclean teeth, in fact, they seem to think that is the only cause; 
but they are much mistaken. The condition of the teeth may have 
something to do with it, but there are other causes. I remember a 
young lady who had a sickening breath, and on being informed of 
it had her teeth extracted, but it did not remedy the evil. I am 
satisfied that the stomach, lungs and blood have a good deal to do 
with one's breath, and that the uncleanliness of persons in regard 
to the skin (I mean the whole external surface of the body, partic- 
ularly the arm-pits, as well as their underclothing), is the chief 
cause of that very offensive effluvia we so often smell. People 
should remember that the skin is constantly throwing off effete 
matter, which is the waste and decayed particles of the body, and 
if this is not removed by frequent washing or bathing, it stands to 
reason there will be an accumulation of dead, corrupt, stinking 
matter, especially on those parts which the air does not easily reach, 
such as the arm-pits, for instance. There being considerable heat 
generated there, we could not expect anything else but a strong, 
rank, nasty smell; and when we remember that some are not par- 
ticular about their cleanliness or how often they change their 
undergarments, we do not wonder that there are so many living, 
walking sepulchers, rotten inside and out, defiling the pure air of 
heaven every step they take. Oh ! the dirty, slovenly way many 
people have, not only of living, but of doing things. 

The slovenly nature of people is partly due to their deficiency 
in the sense of touch; not that they cannot feel, but rather that 
they lack that fine, exquisite sense which enables them to perceive 
the condition or quality of a thing the moment they touch it, and 
to handle things lightly, gently and carefully. A large percentage 
of people seem to have no more idea of how to handle a fine, light, 
delicate article than an idiot would have of handling a new born 
babe. A cat will move around among crockery and glassware on 
the table, in the cupboard or in a store window and rarely break or 
knock anything down unless frightened away, but a cow or horse 
being less agile and more stiff and awkward, would knock every- 
thing over they came in contact with. Nor is this difference due 
to the size of the animal entirely; it is in the natural organization 



374 H0W TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

of the cat to be more graceful and sprightly than many other ani- 
mals that are no larger than itself. Just so with human beings. 
The feet, hands and fingers of some people seem to be made of 
wood; they touch and grab everything in a heavy, clumsy way. 
When they take you by the hand you feel as if you were clasped in 
a vise, and they squeeze so hard as to make handshaking a painful 
operation; though an ardent, impulsive nature may also cause a 
person to shake or squeeze the hand too hard. And when one of 
these awkward, touchless kind of men attempt to kiss a delicate, 
sensitive young woman, they make her as mad as a jilted lover, 
because they just drop upon her tiny rosy lips as though they were 
going to bite off a chew of tobacco or a piece of pie. When they 
pick up a book they handle it as though every leaf was made out 
of lumber. 

I have been annoyed almost beyond endurance, at expositions, 
when I have had books and pamphlets on sale, to see even well- 
dressed men and women come along and grab the books with 
thumb and finger and turn back and crease the covers, crumple the 
leaves, leave their finger or glove marks on them, and mutilate the 
book, so that by the time two or three such persons had looked at 
it, or rather played with it as a child would, it would be scarcely fit 
for sale. Then they would pass on to repeat the same curiosity 
performance at the next stand with as much indifference as though 
they had really done you a favor by fumbling the leaves over. 
There are few people, I am sorry to say, who know how to look at 
a book without damaging it. If it were a five dollar bill such peo- 
ple would most likely take both hands and hold it up to their noses 
to examine it, but a pamphlet they think they can scrutinize with 
one finger and thumb; to bend the corners and look at the leaves 
with a squint of the eye to see if there are any pictures in it. It is 
this same touchless, slovenly nature that makes people coarse, 
untidy and dirty in their manner of living. They do not seem to 
have any perception of the fine, delicate, light and sensitive nature 
of things or persons. They seem to make little distinction between 
the fine and coarse, the heavy and the light, the clean and unclean, 
the tasty or the untasty; and, therefore, have no pride in keeping 
either themselves or their houses, as a rule, half as tasty and clean 
as they might be. True, some show-off, slovenly people will dress 
up stylishly for public appearance, but be careless in private life 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 375 

and in their under garments, while their poor bodies probably do 
not get a wholesome and thorough cleansing once a month. The 
more a man cultivates the sesthetical nature and loves physical 
cleanliness and purity, the more will he love and desire moral purity 
and excellence. 

What a large number of churches and halls throughout the 
country have dirty brutes for sextons! They never seem to 
think that after a church or hall has been swept, that there is any 
necessity for dusting, or rather undusting the seats, furniture and 
railing, so they leave everything covered so thick with dust that a 
man may take his finger and write his name; and the only dusting 
the building gets is gratuitously done by the people when they sit 
down in their best clothes. Nor do these simpletons have any idea 
how to ventilate a church. They evidently think that human beings 
can be packed together like sardines for an hour or two, without 
any air or sunlight. No wonder the audience often grows weary 
and listless, not because the services are so long and tiresome, but 
because they need oxygen. I have often thought if I were a min- 
ister and were to take charge of some churches I have been into in 
my travels, my first text would be "Cleanliness is next to Godli- 
ness!" How can people worship God with purity of heart and 
feeling, when they are surrounded with dirt, and when the building 
looks dark and gloomy, and the atmosphere perhaps feels damp, or 
cold and chilly? A church or hall should be thoroughly heated 
before the audience goes in, but many sextons seem to take the 
people for so many chunks of wood, and accordingly start a fire 
about half an hour before the meeting begins, and leave the people 
and the stove to warm up the building together. 

Nothing is more uncomfortable than to get into a building 
where the air is partly hot and partly cold, just in the process of 
heating up. That is just the way so many take cold. And what 
is still worse, the building has probably not been ventilated since 
the last meeting was held in it. But sextons are not always to 
blame for the dark appearance of the church. Building committees 
are very often possessed of more folly, fashion and vanity, than 
they are of common sense; so to make the windows look pretty 
inside, they put in deep, dark-stained glass, that shuts out at least 
one half, and sometimes two thirds, of the natural light. I remem- 
ber visiting a church in Pennsylvania where it was so dark that in 



376 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

cloudy weather they had to light up. I went to a church in Detroit, 
one Sunday morning, put my head inside the door, got a sniff of the 
foul air and saw the gloomy appearance, then turned around and 
left. I thought my heart could go out toward the Almighty in the 
balmy air and on the beautiful streets much better than it would 
in that church dungeon. Such places are not only gloomy and 
depressing to the spirits, but unhealthy, and I for one would not 
be a regular attendant at such a place of worship. Then many of 
our Sabbath-school rooms are little better than dungeons, and I 
do not believe that either teachers or children can feel as happy 
and become as interested in Sabbath-school exercises as they 
would in a cheerful and well-lighted room. Man can make no 
improvement on the natural light of the sun, either by shutting it 
out or letting it shine through a lot of stained glass. Sunlight is 
essential to health, and I hold that people should not only expose 
their faces and hands to the light, but frequently the entire body. 
Sun-baths and water-baths are what people need more than they 
get. It makes me feel vexed when I go to hotels, boarding-houses 
and private residences, and see how constantly and persistently 
they keep the light out of the house. One would think by the 
way they act, that light was a dangerous or impure thing to let 
into the room. Do they think they^know better what is good for 
them than the God who made them and set the sun in the heavens 
to give them light and purify their bodies, and I may say their 
souls? For I question if a man who lives in the dark will think 
and act like one who lives in the pure light. The Bible says that 
"men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil." 
Do people want to become like so many cats that prowl around by 
night and commit their deeds of mischief, plunder and destruction? 

Light, therefore, purifies the character as well as the body. 
Vegetation will thrive better in a light place than it will in a dark 
place. People who shut themselves up in the house and live in 
dark rooms will show it in their very faces. They do not look as 
fresh and pure as they ought to. One plea or excuse that people 
make for shutting out the light is, that it fades the carpet. Well, 
suppose it does. What are carpets made for but to be faded and 
worn out just like clothes? Do men and women buy garments and 
then keep them in a dark closet for fear they will fade? But which 
would you rather have, reader, a faded carpet or a faded face and 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 377 

injured health? Money will buy another carpet, but it will not 
buy you a beautiful face nor a cheerful mind. Keeping dining- 
rooms, parlors, and especially bed-rooms, shut up almost as dark 
as night, is a shame and a sin against humanity, if not an insult to 
the Author and Giver of light. What pleasure is there in sitting 
down to eat in a gloomy dining room? At the dinner and supper 
table one wants to feel comfortable and cheerful, which is out of 
the question if the surroundings are not in harmony. It does 
seem to me that there ought to be at least one place where a man 
can find physical enjoyment and contentment; but it will not be in 
a room that is only half warmed and with about one quarter the 
amount of light there ought to be. 

I have frequently noticed that immediately after dinner the 
blinds are all closed. No matter whether there are flies and mos- 
quitoes or not; whether it is bright or cloudy; whether it is sum- 
mer or winter, that room must be kept shut up all day, with just 
a few straggling rays let in for the boarders to discern the differ- 
ence between meats and vegetables, and to find the way to their 
mouths instead of their ears. But one great difficulty with our 
hotels and boarding-houses is, that the wrong persons have got 
into the wrong place. Thousands of people who do not know what 
else to do stumble into the management, or rather mismanagement, 
of a hotel, or boarding-house. The idea never seems to enter their 
minds that to be a successful hotel-keeper requires special talent 
and adaptability for that particular business, just as much as though 
they were going to be bankers, lawyers or doctors. A hotel-keeper 
should be a live man, not a sort of half monkey or lazy Turk who 
either lops around the house while his wife does the work, or sits 
on his chair with his feet on top of the stove, smoking, chewing 
and spitting over everything around him, and filling the room with 
smoke. He should be an active man, thoroughly alive to the inter- 
ests of his guests; a polite, accommodating person, a sociable and 
generous man. A man who has a good relish for food and enjoys 
good things to eat himself, not a nervous dyspeptic who runs 
around the house looking as sour as vinegar, and as irritable, rest- 
less and snappish as a hungry wolf, or a young fellow that has been 
unceremoniously jilted by his girl. He should especially be a man 
of taste, one who takes pride in keeping things scrupulously clean 
and neat; one who likes to see things look nice, beautiful and 



3/8 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

orderly, and not a man whose appearance and nature is more allied 
to the hog than to a human being. Think of the hovels that men 
and women rent and half furnish, and then have the cheek to call 
them hotels; and think of the impudence to charge a traveler from 
a dollar and a half to three dollars per day for the privilege of 
stopping in some dismal hole all night, with beefsteak and fried 
potatoes for supper, and fried potatoes and beefsteak for breakfast! 
I do not call that the way to live — I call it the way to die ten 
years before your time comes, or should come. 

What I have just said in reference to hotels is equally applicable 
to boarding-houses, with few exceptions. It is very strange, indeed, 
that notwithstanding the strong love that exists in American peo- 
ple for variety, few persons who keep hotels and boarding-houses 
ever seem to think there is any necessity for a change of diet at the 
table. The first week or even two or three days that you stop at 
any house you have had every change and variety of dish you may 
expect, if you stay there for a year; except, perhaps, a few things 
which come and go with the seasons of the year. It is hot meats 
and vegetables with tea and coffee three times a day. Occasion- 
ally you have a little fruit or fruit sauce that has been stewed, 
cooked and spiced till it is spoiled. Even the potatoes are fre- 
quently boiled till all the starch has been boiled out of them, and 
the next meal time what was left of the starchless potatoes is sliced 
up, put into nasty pork lard and fried till they are as hard and dry 
as chips of wood — the only moisture being the grease they were 
soaked in. Then how interesting it is to hear the cook pounding 
away at a piece of tough beef (like a shoemaker hammering out a 
piece of sole leather) that she expects you to chew, masticate and 
roll over in your mouth a dozen times till you weary your jaws in 
getting it ready for the stomach! Or perchance it is a chicken; per- 
haps you are on a steamboat, wending your way up a beautiful river. 
Your appetite is sharpened, the dinner bell rings, and you sit down 
to the table. Your eyes wander over the eatables, till they rest on 
an old hen which you are foolish enough to think is a tender chicken. 
Nevertheless, your mouth begins to water till you get a piece of it 
between your jaws, and then your eyes almost water with disap- 
pointment. An old gentleman sitting beside me once at a steam- 
boat dinner-table, quietly remarked as he arose, "That might have 
been a young chicken once, but it was a good many years ago." 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 379 

Then the dirty, slovenly class, to which I have already alluded, 
are generally the kind which are hired as cooks, servants and wait- 
ers in hotels, restaurants and boarding-houses. It is a common 
thing for the help in a hotel to wash out the pots with soap-suds 
and then set them up to dry without rinsing them out with clean 
water. All the dishes, knives and forks are washed in the same 
dish of water, and about half-cleaned and wiped. I remember a 
boarding-house in New York where the dish-washer was in the 
habit of washing his shirt in the same sink that he washed the 
dishes in, and it was a boarding-house in the central and respect- 
able part of the city, too. Of course, the boarders knew nothing 
about it, nor do the keepers of a house or hotel always know what 
their dirty servants do. A gentleman who was in a position to 
know, told me about a French cook at one of the hotels in Long 
Branch, hired at high wages, but whose habits were so dirty that if 
the guests had been aware of them they would not have eaten the 
second meal in the house. 

It is all very fine to enter one of these hotel mansions and see 
fine furniture, carpets, decorations, and a smiling clerk behind a 
fine counter, who politely assists you to register your name to be 
published in a newspaper, then assigns you a room and receives 
your three or four dollars a day. So far, so good; but the question 
is, what about the kitchen, the cook and dish-washer — are they in 
keeping with the fine clerk, counter and furniture? Does the inner 
show (to which you are not admitted, much less invited) correspond 
with the outer? if not, reader, when you take your choice and pay 
your money you are pretty badly humbugged. And I may add 
here that when boarding-house and hotel-keepers make themselves 
useful, their prices will be more reasonable than when they play the 
idle gentleman or lady and hire out or trust everything to their 
servants, as they used to do in slavery times, down south, and to a 
great extent do yet. When will people study and learn the art of 
housekeeping as they do some useless accomplishments? 

A gentleman acquaintance of mine, while stopping at a first- 
class hotel in a large city, called for a piece of mince-pie for dessert. 
He took a bite and commenced to chew it, but the more he chewed 
it the tougher and larger it became, till thinking it very strange that 
mince-pie should somewhat resemble the widow's oil, he thought 
he would take it out and examine it, when to his astonishment he 



380 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

found it to be a lock of hair from a colored person. He did not 
care about eating the remainder but taking the expanded, curly 
and human part of the pie to the proprietor, he exhibited it to 
him, who begged him in utter astonishment to say nothing about it. 
An examination into the affair in the kitchen revealed the fact that 
one darkey had cut another's hair near the flour barrel, and this 
wandering lock had dropped in, and was made up into mince-pie. 

The lesson I wish to teach just here is, that it is not merely the 
kind of food we eat on which our health and nature depends, but 
also the quality. For even good, yea, the very best of food, can be 
spoiled in cooking; and that is often the case. Nearly everything 
we eat nowadays is taken hot. It must be boiled, or fried, or 
roasted, and so much pepper and spice are put in as to render it 
frequently unfit to use. Our eggs are fried, our meats are often 
fried, our potatoes are fried, in fact about one-half of what we eat 
goes into the frying pan and is greased till finally we are greased 
inside and out. I hold that this system of living is entirely wrong. 
There is too much artificial life among mankind. We cannot ex- 
pect to be strong, healthy and long-lived by such a course of diet. 
What we want is plain, simple, wholesome food; more cold and less 
hot food and drink taken into the mouth and stomach. What we 
eat and drink should be kept and prepared in a clean, sweet and 
well-ventilated place, and not in the dirty, stinking and foul places 
that often hold it. I have seen several hotels where the kitchen 
and water-closets were close together. I do not wonder there is 
so much sickness and suffering in the world, when I see the way 
seven or eight tenths of the people live. The only wonder to me 
is, there is not more of it. I care not how poor people are, they 
can be clean and decent, and prepare their food in a wholesome 
way. There is no necessity for people eating hot meats all the 
time. Meat is just as good and, I think, healthier, if eaten cold; 
especially for a nervous person. There are persons of peculiar 
temperament and nature who seem to crave hot meats and drinks. 
Let me remind such of the statement made by a man who traveled 
all over the world, and whose observations were to the effect that 
those who ate and drank hot things were more diseased and had 
worse-looking teeth than any class of persons he met with. 

But there is another great evil connected with the practice and 
foolish fashion of constantly getting up hot meals, and that is the 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 38 1 

effect it has upon people; the inconvenience it puts many to, as 
well as the privileges it deprives them of, on the Sabbath day. 
When God fed the children of Israel in the wilderness, he gave 
them enough on the sixth day to last them over the seventh; and 
why cannot people in this age prepare enough when they are cook- 
ing on Saturday to last over Sunday? Then everybody would have 
the day of rest they are entitled to by the laws of heaven and earth. 
Then everybody who wanted to, could go to church. Talk about 
slavery! why we have slavery all over the land to-day. Thousands 
of men and women, young and old, work hard all day Sunday to 
surfeit the depraved stomachs of the great mass of people; and 
those who are not slaves at work, are slaves to their own appetites. 
Talk about freedom and Christianity! Why does not every lover 
of both raise his or her voice against this abominable and sinful 
practice? Alas! Christians are as bad as the world in this respect. 
They keep their poor, hard-worked servants at home getting hot 
dinners, while they go to church, and they wonder why their serv- 
ants never become Christians; why they do not know more, and be 
as good and smart as themselves. Why, I remember years ago, 
when I alluded to this matter at a society gathering of church 
people, they made light of it, especially the minister; but the 
trouble with that minister was not only a passion for hot dinners, 
but for something stronger, though not quite so solid. The Sab- 
bath, considered from a domestic standpoint, has become, to a 
portion of mankind as well as to beast, a day of hard work; and 
to a large number, a day of feasting and dissipation; whereas, it 
should be a day of spiritual growth and social pleasure, a day when 
friends and families meet together and sing the songs of Zion, and 
make joy and melody in their hearts toward the Lord. Even the 
better class of Christians make it a day of eating and church for- 
malities, instead of letting their hearts flow together and run out 
into that channel of religious freedom, pleasure and joy, which 
they might and should occupy. 

What the world needs is a revolution on the subject of eating, 
drinking, sleeping and living, in general. Food, air, light and 
liquids not only affect our bodies, but our mind and spiritual life. 
Food is what makes our blood, and the air we breathe is intended 
to purify it. The blood is what makes our entire body. The soul 
is shut up within, and mind manifests itself through the body. 



382 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

Therefore, if we have bad food, air, water and light, our bodies must 
suffer, and the manifestations of mind will be all the more imper- 
fect, and our souls will not be set to the right tune. We shall be 
like a piece of machinery that is all out of order. In other words, 
coarse and corrupt or diseased bodies will make coarse and corrupt 
minds and spirits. I do not say that a man with a diseased body 
cannot be a good and even refined man, but I do say that in some 
particulars some parts of his higher nature must suffer. Body 
and soul act and react upon each other, and when one suffers the 
other is in sympathy with it. When the body is drunk, the mind 
is affected in its manifestations for the time being; and when the 
soul is set on fire by passion, the body will soon be made corrupt 
and vile. 

Be not deceived, then; impure food, drink and air, will make 
impure bodies; and impure bodies will make, in some form, impure 
minds and characters. What men eat and drink will often excite 
their passions as much as what they see and hear. Constipation of 
the bowels and a bilious condition of the system will irritate a 
man's passions and excite his amativeness; and, as a large propor- 
tion of people are bilious, that is one cause of secret bad habits and 
immoral conduct. He who expects to control his life, mind and 
character, without controlling that which is in him and around him, 
is like a man who expects to build a house without the proper 
material to do it with. As well expect to see chickens hatched 
out of wooden eggs, as to see a symmetrical character evolved 
from a corrupt and polluted body. 

The sooner people wake up and open their eyes to the fact that 
their mode of life affects their minds and characters, the better it 
will be for humanity. In large cities, thousands will rush into the 
cheap and dirty class of restaurants, where they can get a meal for 
ten or fifteen cents, and imagine they are practicing economy. 
Well, they are, as far as their pockets are concerned, but it is 
starvation and ruination to their bodies. The food they get is of 
poor quality and badly cooked; then it is generally the wrong kind 
with which to make brain and nourish the nervous system; hence, 
such people are only half fed, and cannot possibly be in a fit condition 
to solve the great problem of life, surmount the many obstacles 
that lie in their pathway, and march on with vigor to sure and 
lasting success. Those persons who are contented to live on such 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 383 

trash as cheap restaurants and boarding-houses furnish, are really 
little better fed than tramps. No wonder there are so many lazy, 
shiftless and good-for-nothing people in the world, so much crime 
and dissipation, when we remember that a large portion of man- 
kind are living lives of starvation, as far as brain and nerve-food is 
concerned. How much work can you get out of a half fed horse? 
And how much intellectual work can you expect from those who 
have not much brains to start with, and what little they have only 
half fed ? To such persons the cute remark of a little girl is quite 
applicable, who, on being asked just after her parents had moved 
into another house, where they were living, replied: "O, we are not 
living now, we are boarding." 

It never seems to enter into the conceptions or perceptions of 
the mass of people, that different parts of the system require dif- 
ferent kinds of food. You cannot raise a canary-bird on the same 
kind of food that you would give a horse. Different kinds of 
animals, birds, fishes, etc., require certain kinds of food that are 
adapted to their nature and wants. Man is an epitome of the 
universe, or the world in miniature; he is a combination of all the 
lower animals with a little more added thereto, and that little more 
comes in the form of brains and spirit. How preposterous and 
short-sighted, then, to suppose that man can be fed simply as an 
animal is fed; that he can grow up into perfect manhood and main- 
tain the image of his maker on the common, greasy, hash-up system 
so prevalent all over the country. The brain wants brain-food and 
exercise; the muscles want muscle-food and exercise; and the bones 
want bone-food and exercise. The brain and nervous system is 
what suffers the most, because it is the least fed and cared for. 
This is the cause of so much consumption, catarrh and nervous 
prostration; the cause of there being so many sick and broken- 
down ministers, teachers, students, and scholars in general. They 
are just like an over-worked, half-fed horse. I am convinced that 
the starved condition of the brain and nervous system is one 
cause of drunkenness with persons of nervous temperament, for 
whenever the nerves do not receive proper nourishment, there is 
a craving desire for stimulants, either in the form of spirits and 
liquors, or tea, coffee or tobacco. These stimulants excite the 
brain and nerves for the time being, and apparently give relief, 
but really weaken and change the natural or normal condition of 



384 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

the nervous system. And temperance coffee-houses are not much 
better than whisky shops. 

The impoverished physical condition of people is one cause of 
so many weak, puny, half-made specimens of humanity being seen 
all over the world. Their parents were not in a proper physical 
condition to transmit a healthy, vigorous constitution, hence their 
children are not strong to resist atmospheric changes, excessive 
heat or cold, dampness, etc.; and the consequence is, disease soon 
gains a foothold and they suffer all through life, or are carried to 
early graves. Men do not act so thoughtless and insane in breeding 
and raising stock, as they do in begetting children and rearing 
them. When they want horses, sheep, hogs and cows, they select 
the best parentage they can — animals that are fed and taken care 
of for that special purpose. Are not human beings of as much 
value as animals? Then why should not men and women keep 
themselves in the best physical condition possible when they bring 
children into the world and become parents? Men and even women 
train themselves rigidly and severely for things of far less impor- 
tance. If they wish to get up a walking match, perform some 
wonderful feat, or pound each other into mince-meat, they diet 
themselves for weeks, perhaps months, before the contest takes 
place. What is life but a battle, a constant struggle, a mighty 
contest with forces and difficulties that surround us on every side? 
And he who would be a victor on life's battle-field must train and 
diet himself. And by dieting I do not mean abstaining, but eating 
the right kind of food, at the right time and in the right manner. 
I am not advocating a bread and water diet. There is sufficient 
food in the world to give people an abundance with variety. The 
important thing to be attended to is its proper selection and prep- 
aration, so as to meet our individual wants. Those persons who 
eat and drink as though they were doing it for a wager, need not 
expect to be healthy, nor to enjoy their food or themselves. I re- 
member seeing a man eating his dinner one day at a hotel, and the 
way the knife and fork went up and down to his mouth, one would 
think he was about starved, and that he was being fed by steam 
power. Such men do really live in a state of starvation, for although 
they eat enough to feed an animal as large again as themselves, 
they are all the time hungry, for the simple reason that their stom- 
achs become disordered and produce a constant craving, or gnaw- 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 385 

ing, unnatural appetite for food. They are the most pitiable objects 
on earth, for while their stomachs are constantly craving for food, 
their irritability and restless disposition have grown so strong that 
their minds are continually seeking for excitement, and nothing 
seems to satisfy or bring contentment but for a very short time. 
A large percentage of people eat too much and do not realize that 
they do. Nearly every person with the organ of alimentiveness 
large over-eats, and thus throws his digestive organs out of order, 
and brings on a variety of ailments, according to the temperament 
of the person. 

It is also wrong to carry our business or any kind of care and 
trouble to the dinner-table. Of all times and places, the meal table 
is just where we ought to forget everything that tends to irritate the 
mind, and through it the nervous system and stomach. Let us eat 
and drink in cheerfulness, for a dinner well eaten is half digested. 
We should not bolt our food like so many selfish cats and dogs. 
Nobody is likely to snatch our morsel away from us, and when we 
take a mouthful we need not make it so large as to compel us to 
stretch our mouths from ear to ear in order to get it in; and when 
it is in there is no necessity of our being in such a fearful hurry to 
get it down our throats in order to make room for the next. Let 
us cultivate a little continuity, which most people need to do, and 
dwell on that mouthful till it is thoroughly masticated and ready 
for the stomach. Then we need not imagine when we sit down to 
the table that we are in a grave-yard reading tomb-stones, or at 
church listening to our grandfather's funeral sermon. There is no 
necessity for drawing our face out a yard long, and looking at one 
another as demure and sullen as a boy that has just had a thrashing, 
or a woman that has lost all hope, and settled down to the convic- 
tion that she is to be an old maid forever. Let us be sociable, have 
a little merriment and laugh occasionally; it will not hurt us but 
rather help the stomach to do its work, though I do not think it 
desirable to be an hour eating one meal. We should eat to live and 
not live to eat, as many persons undoubtedly do; for they appa- 
rently do little else but eat, drink, sleep and lie around the house 
complaining of poor health; surrounded with everything in the 
shape of luxury, and yet hardly able to walk up stairs. I remember 
a young wife whose head I was called to examine at a hotel. She 
was hardly able to walk up stairs, and as I entered her room I saw 



2,86 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

the trouble at once. She had a beautiful room, elegantly furnished, 
and every comfort heart could wish for except pure air, which I saw 
by the arrangement of the window she did not get Said I, " Madam, 
as far as your health is concerned, you had better be living in an old 
barn full of knot-holes than where you are." She lived day and night 
in a small-sized, over-heated and poorly ventilated room, without 
taking any exercise save to walk down stairs to her meals. Some 
people prefer to sit in the house and read novels rather than walk 
out and behold the beauty and loveliness of nature when dressed 
in her garments of green and freshness. They avoid doing just 
what they ought to do to give their own bodies a chance to remain 
fresh and vigorous. Such people ought to be sick, for they are too 
lazy to exert themselves enough to keep well. If they want to go 
a few blocks, they must needs take a street car, and they will even 
stop a street cai half way in the block rather than walk a few steps 
from the corner. When in the White Mountains one summer I 
learned that a young man from Boston frequently walked to the 
top of Mt. Agassiz because he said it did him good. He had been 
confined in the store so much. Lazy persons should remember 
that the toughest trees are those that are the most in motion, that 
are isolated from all others, and are beat upon by the winds and 
storms through all the years of their growth. 

Laziness or inertia is the enemy of health. Inaction belongs to 
death; activity to life. Therefore let those who want to be well 
and keep well, exercise; not merely with some arrangement you 
may have in the house, such as dumb-bells and health-lifts, but get 
out in the open air and walk a few miles; not once a week or month, 
but every day or two, and when you walk, hold the head up in its 
proper position, and throw your shoulders back and chest forward, 
then breathe deep and full; fill your lungs at every inspiration; 
inhale and exhale to your fullest capacity for five or ten minutes at 
a time, as often as you have an opportunity to breathe the pure air. 
Do this and you will not be troubled with consumption and bad 
blood. Do not spend the most of your time in cold weather in a 
room that is about blood-heat. I have been into lots of houses and 
business offices where the rooms have been so hot I could scarcely 
endure it ten minutes, and yet the inmates live in that kind of 
atmosphere day and night, with the windows and doors all shut up, 
and not a particle of fresh air let in except what steals in through 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 387 

the window crevice, or when the door happens to be open for a 
moment. How can people be healthy, living all the winter in an 
over-heated, vitiated atmosphere, with not a drop of water on the 
stove to moisten it, But worst of all is to sleep in a room having a 
fire in it all night, for as soon as they go out into the natural atmos- 
phere that is cold and moist, it affects their heads or lungs, which 
have been made unnaturally sensitive, and the result is a severe 
cold which keeps them coughing and sneezing for the next week. 
And they wonder how they ever caught such a cold ; why, they 
took every precaution before they went out, they put on their rub- 
bers, two or three shawls or cloaks, and a big fur around their necks, 
muffled up their ears and head, and put a thick vail over their face 
which they could hardly see through. So they cannot understand 
how, why, or where they should get such a cold, when really they 
had been doing nearly everything they could to get themselves in 
a condition to take cold, and the greater wonder would be if they 
did not take one. Somewhere in my travels I met two sisters and 
a daughter of one of them who were living in a steam-heated house 
and all three were sick. The daughter had a headache half the 
time; one sister had sharp pains in her chest and sat in the hot 
rooms with a shawl round her shoulders and lace nubia over her 
head and round her neck, and had her meals sent to her room; 
and the other sister had lost her appetite and could eat next to 
nothing all day. It was really the next thing to impossibility for 
them to be well, living as they were in a regular hot-house all the 
time, and eating bilious food ; and I noticed that half the guests 
of the house had colds or some kind of sickness. I have no faith 
in the practice of wrapping up so much about the throat and neck. 
I believe that and bad air is the chief cause of sore throats. I never 
wear any thing more around my neck in the coldest weather than 
I do in the summer, except in stormy weather, I raise the collar of 
my overcoat, and I never have any trouble with the throat. 

I have seen young women going along the streets of Chicago 
in the winter time with their necks and part of the bosom, all bare, 
and they were evidently not troubled with sore throats ; but I 
would not recommend such a practice. There is a medium and an 
extreme in all things, but certain it is that those fussy people who 
take so much precaution in wrapping up from head to foot, and seem 
to be more afraid of a little pure air than anything else, are the very 



388 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

ones who suffer the most. The old saying "Keep your feet dry 
and warm, and your head cool," is a good one. Of course, persons 
who are born delicate and sensitive, and are weak in some of their 
vital organs, will always be subject to colds, catarrh, and sickness 
of some kind, "no matter how they live; but if they live rightly 
they can gradually grow stronger and better; and if everybody 
would only live as God and nature designed they should, in a few 
generations sickness would be an uncommon thing, and people 
would be strong and healthy. I am satisfied by observation that 
the mode of life and the habits of a large number of people are 
constantly diminishing their strength and vitality. They are going 
down hill, when they ought to be going up, and all because their 
living is too artificial. Even monkeys, when brought from their 
native climate and kept in a warm room heated by stoves or steam, 
die with consumption. Dr. Hall, an eminent English physician, says 
that what consumptives need is air, pure air, and plenty of it, and 
that if he was troubled with this disease he would live out-doors 
most of his time. I presume there are plenty of people who seldom 
go outside of the house from one week's end to the other. Such 
persons, as far as health is concerned, had better be in jail or the 
penitentiary. 

Very few persons seem to think that their food and drink have 
anything to do with molding their minds and character or disposi- 
tion, but I am convinced they have a great deal to do with it. Why 
did they train gladiators on raw meat if not to make them ferocious? 
Feed any animal you please on raw meat and you will make it 
more blood-thirsty and fierce. Therefore, if raw meats will so readily 
and perceptibly change the disposition, and excite the animal 
nature or propensities, may we not, reasoning from analogy, con- 
clude that even cooked meats will also feed and develop the pro- 
pensities and selfish nature, only in a less or slower degree? Hot 
meats and drinks excite the passions, and I do not believe that a 
man will think, act or feel the same who constantly lives on such 
diet, as one who lives on a colder and simpler diet; having less 
meat and more fruit and grain. Men need not expect that food 
which makes bones and muscles, and ministers to the appetites and 
passions will also build up the moral and spiritual nature. To do 
that they must eat fruit and grain. Just think of the prevalent 
custom in America of eating hot meats three times a day! In fact, 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 389 

people do not think they have a good meal unless they receive or 
prepare some kind of hot meat; hence they are constantly exciting 
the passions and animal nature, Cold meat would be less injurious 
though there is no necessity of eating meat, either hot or cold, 
three times a day. A sea captain who has traveled around the globe 
has stated as the result of his observations, that where people live 
chiefly on hot meats their teeth looked black and decayed, but 
whenever he found a people whose diet was less exciting, less meat 
and more fruit and grain, their teeth were whiter and better. 

In the Garden of Eden man had no meat, but fruits. It may be 
argued by some that Eden's climate was so mild and congenial 
that he did not need animal food to produce sufficient carbon to 
keep him warm. That may be true, and may be one reason why 
God did not provide it for Adam's use; but I am convinced there 
is still another and a higher reason, and that is, that the fruits of 
the garden were more in harmony with, and conducive to, a high 
degree of moral purity and intellectual vigor. The Bible furnishes 
good illustrations on this subject. What means fasting, but the 
weakening of the animal and strengthening of the moral nature? 
Fruit is the least animal and the most spiritual food we have. Be- 
tween these two extremes we have vegetables and grain. Vegeta- 
bles are next to meat in the ascending scale. Next comes the 
grain, such as wheat, oats, etc., which are really the staff of life, 
and then fruit, which is the highest, purest and most refining. But 
in grading the different kinds of food as I have just done, I simply 
refer to their effects upon man's higher nature, mind and character, 
and not to their nutritive and life-giving qualities and properties. 
I am not advocating that we should live, or try to live, on either 
one alone, in the present state and climate of the world. 

As touching the mind and higher nature of man, it appears to 
me, from a phrenological point of view, we have three grand divis- 
ions: animal, intellectual and moral, each of which may be sub- 
divided. So we have three distinct kinds of food, each of which 
may also be two-fold. 1st, We have animal food, including fish; 
2nd, Vegetable, including grains; and 3rd, Fruits, including nuts. 
Meat makes muscle and produces heat; therefore meat should be 
eaten in summer less than in winter. Fish and eggs feed the 
brain and nervous system, especially salt-water fish, — codfish in 
particular. From the fish the brain is supplied with phosphorus, 



390 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

and from the eggs, albumen; hence, men and women who use 
their brains considerably, such as ministers, professors, authors, 
editors, teachers and students, should be liberal in the use of fish 
and eggs. Because they use their brains more than their muscles, 
it is brain-food they want, and which they generally fail to get 
enough of. But what is still better for brain-food than either is 
wheaten bread and oatmeal. The fine white bread generally set on 
the table is very little good for nutritive purposes; it helps to fill 
up a man's stomach and that is about all. What people need is 
the gluten contained in the wheat, and if people are anxious to 
feed their nervous system and supply enamel for their teeth, as 
well as build up the whole constitution, they will find in large 
cities plenty of flour that contains all the gluten, phosphorus and 
brain-food qualities, because there are flour mills, I am happy to 
say, in different parts of the country, that make a specialty of pre- 
paring flour without throwing out the best part of it. Look at the 
healthy and clear, bright-minded, metaphysical Scotchman, who 
half lives on oatmeal, and then reflect as to whether oatmeal and 
wheat is good for the brain or not, especially when eaten with 
plenty of fruit. One of the strangest things to me in my travels, 
has been to see so many professors and ministers, who are sup- 
posed to be well educated and set to educate others, broken down 
in health simply because they live in a constant violation of the 
simplest laws of nature. What good has their four, five, or six 
years of college life been to them, if the most practical part has 
been omitted and they do not know how to take care of their 
bodies? And yet if you speak to them on the subject, they pro- 
fess to know all about how to live. If they do, I have only to say 
they place themselves on almost the same plane as drunkards, lib- 
ertines and suicides, for they all destroy their bodies by violating 
natural and moral laws. Teachers and ministers should be healthy, 
clear-minded and vigorous men, and not such weak, ill-natured, 
dyspeptic and demoralized specimens of humanity as many of 
them are. 

The man who, through carelessness, ignorance or stupidity, 
breaks down his constitution and thereby weakens his power for 
good, and renders himself unfit for the active duties of life, is a 
downright sinner; he sins against himself, against the community, 
against posterity, against those under his care and instruction, over 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 39 1 

whom his influence is imperfect, and, therefore, he also sins against 
his Maker. I repeat, that the man who allows himself to grow sick 
and sicker, develops a species of immorality; he violates the moral 
law of responsibility and accountability. How can a man make 
the most of his time and talents when he has to drag around a 
sick body? How can a man have a perfect mind or character in a 
diseased body? Just so long as body and soul are united will the 
one affect the other. Why, if a little piece of bone or anything 
that would irritate and excite, was to interfere with the brain, say 
where the organ of love is located, it would render that person so 
passionate and crazy for the opposite sex as to be uncontrollable; 
hence, anything that irritates, excites or depresses the brain or 
nervous system, will affect the mind and character in greater or 
less degree. I hold, therefore, that all those ignorant, careless or 
conceited clergymen and professors are immoral who, while they 
are teaching, preaching and laboring for the enlightenment of the 
mind and the purity of the soul, are doing the very things that 
tend to degenerate their own bodies and minds, and then to trans- 
mit that weak and sickly moral and physical condition to their off- 
spring. A professor in one of the leading colleges of the land has, 
or did have, a son who became a complete lunatic through falling 
into that awful but common secret habit that is ruining the health 
and even the souls of thousands of young people every year. But 
speak to these professors about matters pertaining to health, and 
they reply, "O yes, we understand it." They teach physiology, 
anatomy and hygiene in the schools. Yes, they do; and their 
minds are crammed so full of theoretical and text-book knowledge 
that they have no room for a few common-sense ideas as to how to 
make a practical use of the knowledge they have garnered. 

Vegetables in connection with sunlight make or develop bone. 
Take the camel, ox and horse as illustrations. Grain tends to 
fatten, replenish and build up the constitution in general; and fruits 
help to purify the body and sharpen and brighten the intellect. 
Thus we can, by studying diet, regulate our bodies and health like 
clockwork. We can feed and develop any part of our bodies we 
please, either brains, muscles or bones. If we want to develop 
muscle we must eat muscle (that is lean meat) and take plenty of 
muscular exercise; but remember meat will never make you fat or 
plump. Flesh-eating animals, such as lions and tigers, never get 



392 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

fat. If we want to develop bones, we must eat food or drink water 
containing lime and get out into the sunlight. Animals that prowl 
around at night and eat flesh do not have large bones. If we want 
to develop brains, we must use our brains a great deal more than 
many persons do; must think and study, and eat food giving phos- 
phorus and albumen. If you want to be lean, eat all you can cram 
into your stomach, put it down lively as though you were a cat and 
were afraid some other cat would come along and rob you of your 
morsel. Work yourself almost to death, sit up late and rise early, 
and you will soon look as though you had been drawn through a 
knot-hole. If you want to get fat, remember the story of the 
Hebrew children who refused the king's portion and ate pulse and 
drank water. Water is fattening — use it freely before going to bed. 
Eat food containing starch, take time to eat and live, masticate 
well, be regular in your habits, sleep well, refrain from over-exer- 
tion, take things easy, and if you can travel some, so much the 
better; but do not make a mistake; never imagine for one moment 
you can get fat or plump on lager beer. You can bloat yourself 
with it like a bladder filled with wind; it will make your body look 
coarse and more like an animal than a pure refined individual; but 
it will never give good solid flesh. Yes, reader, plenty of lager and 
wines may heighten the color in your cheeks, and make your nose 
blossom till you become as conspicuous as a lone flower in the 
desert of Africa, still you will not be exactly like that flower; you 
will not be so pure, nor quite so lovely, nor so lost to human gaze. 
Thousands will cast their eyes upon your horrid face! Then again, 
you will be unlike it in that the fragrance of that flower will be 
wasted on the desert, whereas the fragrance of your foul breath will 
be drawn into the nostrils, go down into the throat and permeate 
the lungs of those who arc so unfortunate as to pass within two or 
three yards of you. But you will be quite like that beautiful flower 
in one particular, at least; it is a wild flower and you will be quite 
wild, too, and you will soon flourish in the great desert of sin 
and ruin. 

Do you want to develop your passions, say your amative im- 
pulse, then live high and do nothing; have your food hot and rich, 
eat plenty of oysters, spice your food well, read exciting novels and 
love stories, visit all the fancy shows you can, go to balls and mingle 
in the round dance, take some stimulants, stand on the corners of 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 393 

the streets, in the door- ways of public halls and churches, and stare 
and star-gaze like so many idiots into every pretty face you see. 
If the streets are muddy and it rains, never mind; so much the 
better. Just do as many fools have done; take an umbrella and 
place yourself against a lamp-post, or lean against the corner of 
some building where you can watch feminine charms as they cross 
the streets, and insult them when they pass with your fiendish 
stare. Do this for a few years and you will develop a passion in 
your soul hotter than hell itself! And that awful passion, that 
serpent you have coiled around your heart will crush you, and 
perhaps land you in the jail or penitentiary. 

Do you desire to control your passions, perfect your health, and 
form a moral, consistent and symmetrical character? Live plain, 
use a cooler diet, and avoid excitement from stimulating food and 
drinks, as well as the excitement of injurious and useless habits like 
tobacco chewing and snuff dipping, for I believe chewing engenders 
a desire and taste for whisky and is the beginning of many a drunk- 
ard's life. If your nervous system is weak, strengthen it with nerve- 
food, or it will prey upon both body and mind. If you are con- 
sumptive, eat nothing but nutritious food and inhale plenty of pure 
air; keep your feet dry and warm, bathe well, breathe deep and full 
through the nose, not the mouth; keep the bowels open, and give 
your body a chance to throw off the effete matter. Also seek a 
climate congenial to your condition. If you are a dyspeptic, quit 
your fretting and worrying, for that disease is about as much a 
mental as a physical trouble; restore the equilibrium of the mind 
and you give the stomach a chance to do something for itself. 
Never eat in a hurry, and be very careful not to over-eat as thou- 
sands of people are doing every day. Do not over-work, and when 
tired, rest. I am not advocating the starvation principle, but your 
food should be pure and well prepared, with not too much grease 
or bad pastry, and meat that is as tough as sole leather. Take 
things coolly and easily; take time to eat, drink, sleep and live, 
and you will live. The longest living animals are those with good 
stomachs; at least that is one of the essential conditions of long 
life. Be merry and full of life; do not go around with a face as long 
as a mule, and look and feel as though you were ready for the 
graveyard. Go somewhere where you can see or hear something 
that will make you laugh. Remember man is the only animal that 



394 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

can laugh, but be careful and not laugh so much as to become fool- 
ish. Associate with some person who is full of fun, mingle with 
children, romp and play with them, make yourself agreeable, 
whether you feel so or not, and in your effort to do so you will 
eventually become so. If you are also bilious, give up your coffee 
and tea, unless it be very weak black tea; use little meat, especially 
fried meats for breakfast. If you are of a nervous temperament, 
your dinner should be light, and your best meal in the evening. If 
you have time in the afternoon, take a short nap, say from fifteen 
to thirty minutes. Eat plenty of oatmeal, cracked wheat, Graham 
bread and fruit. If your food seems to lay hard on the stomach, 
try drinking a little water before you eat. Whenever you find ,a 
bilious attack coming on, there are two things that will cure it, 
unless it be a very severe attack. In an ordinary case, with per- 
haps a slight cold, take first a bath, not a sponge affair, but a regular 
water-bath, neither too hot nor cold, say about eleven o'clock in the 
morning, providing you take breakfast and dinner at the usual 
hours. Or a good time is just before going to bed. Rub yourself 
well, and when you get through rub the body downward so as to 
close the pores of the skin or leave them in a natural condition, 
which tends to prevent cold. A Turkish bath or one that will 
make you perspire is the best kind, so that you can sweat out all 
the effete matter of the system. If you get into a comfortable 
room, let the sun shine upon you. In fact, sun-baths are good and 
ought to be taken whether sick or well. Second, take a lemon any 
time, morning, noon or night, and squeeze the juice into a little 
water and drink it without any sugar or adulteration of any kind; 
unless it be a little salt; which is very beneficial, as it seems to act 
upon the liver. Suppose you take two, about a day or so apart; or, 
if you have a bilious attack with fever, take from two to four at a 
time, two or three times a day. Lemons are good almost anytime, 
especially if you are studying and want to clear up the brain a 
little from bilious tendencies. Remember that lemon juice is a 
vegetable acid, and after it passes from the stomach into the duo- 
denum — the second stomach — it becomes an alkali. 

If people were only interested one half as much about the care 
and preservation of their bodies as they are in ornamenting them, 
and stuffing them with any kind of food that comes handy, we 
would have far less disease and sickness. People would then be 




The kind of brute to develop human animals out of, by making bad blood, poor- 
brains and impoverished souls According to statistics, about one half of the hogs in the 
world are owned in the United States. If people would turn their attention to raising 
and eating more fruits and less hogs, we would have less "hog-risings" and hog natures 
in the world, and more clear-headed people with purer bodies and sweeter souls. 

I regard the eating of hog meat as the most prevalent cause of small pox and scarl t 
fever; for these loathsome diseases, especially the former, take root among the lower 
class of people mostly, who use more of that kind of meat than the better classes. Would 
it not be more sensible to do away with the cause of small pox, viz. : hog meat and de- 
ficient bathing, than to try and cure the disease by introducing another in the form of 
vaccination? 



Go root and grunt, you dirty, stubborn pig! 
For thousands like you I wouldn't give a fig 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 395 

ashamed of themselves to be sick, and it would cost them far less 
time and money to learn the simple laws of health than it does to 
be sick and pay doctors' bills. Physicians are useful men in cases 
of emergency, but it is not necessary whenever a person has a 
slight pain, or the stomach is a little out of order, to run to a doc- 
tor and turn one's stomach into a small drug store as many do. I 
met a man in New York state who had not missed taking medicine 
a single day for fifty years; some doctor had drugged him, and got 
him to using morphine and the result was he had to have it injected 
into him every day. I met a lady in Delaware who had medicine 
given her containing a small quantity of nitrate of silver. She found 
it did her good and took larger doses and for a longer period than 
the doctor ordered; the result was the silver came to the surface of 
the skin, and the action of the light turned her face blue. I met 
another old lady who left drugs alone and had not missed taking a 
sponge bath every morning for fifty years, and she was the very 
picture of health. I am satisfied that drugs and quackery have 
worked more ruin and misery to the human family, than pen can 
ever describe. But if you must and will take medicine, let it be in 
Homoeopathic doses; for Homoeopathy is certainly a milder, finer 
and more spiritual mode of treatment. 

Reader, I am in earnest on this subject of how to live. I am not 
writing these few pages for fun or pastime, nor simply for money, 
but from a deep sense of my duty and obligation toward mankind at 
large. Everywhere I go, in every village, town and city, yea in every 
house, I see the fell seeds of disease and death in the very atmos- 
phere and general surroundings, and people are constantly doing 
the very things to create these unhealthy conditions. One member 
after another is taken from a family and the mourners go about the 
house and streets, with sad faces and hearts bowed down with sor- 
row, and no matter what the nature of the disease was, or how they 
came to die, they at once attribute their death to the work of the 
Lord, when it was really the work or result of their careless stupid- 
ity and sinful indifference to the laws of health. There are many 
things credited to the Lord's account that do not belong there, 
and it has always seemed to me a species of blasphemy to be con- 
stantly attributing sickness, disease, death, etc., to God. You may 
just as well say that God made man sin, as to say he makes him sick 
and die before the natural time allotted to him comes. I believe 



396 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

in . Providence, and special providence, but the idea that God is 
spreading disease and untimely death all over the world, is pre- 
posterous. He permits these things, undoubtedly, but permitting 
a thing and being the author of it, are two different matters. "God 
is not the God of the dead, but of the living;" neither is he the 
God of disease and death, but of health and life. If he is the God 
of disease and death, what did he send his Son into the world to 
give life and save men from sin for? Sin is the sickness and disease 
of the soul, and its result is death; so likewise physical afflictions 
are the sins of the body, and their consequence is death. 

Everything in the material universe is controlled by physical 
laws; everything in the spiritual world is controlled by spiritual 
laws. Our souls are spiritual and governed by those laws, but our 
bodies are material, hence governed by physical laws which God 
himself has established. And the man who runs against those laws 
and violates them, sins against the God who made him. This is 
not an age of miracles, neither are men governed by miracles, and 
it makes no difference whether you are a Christian or not, if you 
thrust your hand into a hot fire, you will burn it; or if you run your 
head against the wall, your head will get the worst of it unless you 
have more skull than biains. And if anybody doubts this doctrine 
of cause and effect, let them try it once and see. So it matters not 
how pious you are, if you live in dark, gloomy, and badly ventilated 
rooms, and in a slovenly, unwholesome manner, rest assured you 
will suffer for it sooner or later. The Bible says, "cleanliness is 
next to godliness," but the mass of people do not realize that great 
truth. Cleanliness is synonimous with purity. Sin is the unclean- 
ness of the soul, and sickness is the uncleanness of the body; and 
as God hates sin or the impurity of the soul, we can easily see why 
cleanliness is considered next to godliness. How hard it is to get 
people to see that cleanliness has anything to do with their minds 
and characters ! In other words, that it forms a part of their Chris- 
tian character. How many dirty, slovenly Christians there are who 
seem to utterly ignore that passage of scripture ! They are won- 
derfully conscientious about moral habits, and church creed, and 
church obligations, but never trouble themselves about the purity 
of their houses and persons. 

Bad air is one kind of uncleanliness, bad food is another, and so 
is bad breath, and a slovenly appearance of one's person and house. 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. . 397 

All sickness comes from some kind of uncleanliness either in the air, 
food, water or body. When lecturing in Baltimore one winter, I 
visited one of the suburbs, a healthy locality, but found the public 
school minus about half its scholars on account of sickness, and 
several deaths by scarlet fever. I was at a loss at first to under- 
stand the cause of so much fever, till I went into some of their 
houses and saw the low ceilings, then I remarked to one of their 
business men that I thought that was most likely the trouble. 
Whereupon he replied, "Well now, come to think, about eight tenths 
of all the deaths here have been in the low ceiling houses." The 
severe sickness of the Prince of Wales, and the death of Princess 
Alice, has been attributed to the gloomy and badly ventilated old 
castles in which they had lived. Bad air and bad food are what 
play the mischief with a man's liver, and are the beginning of a 
multitude of complaints. There are few persons with strong and 
healthy livers or that are free from bilious tendencies in some form. 
And I believe that bad water will upset one's bowels about as quick 
as rhubarb or blue mass. Who does not feel more cheerful and 
happy when the sun shines brightly, than when the sky is dark and 
gloomy ? and who does not feel more bright and vigorous in a pure 
atmosphere, than they do where the air has become impure by use 
or confinement ? Nothing wearies an audience quicker than an 
uncomfortable or vitiated atmosphere, for it is not always the length 
of a sermon or lecture that makes an audience restless and anxious 
to get home, but frequently the bad air or uncongenial surroundings 
of some kind. I hold, therefore, that people who live in badly 
lighted and ventilated rooms will not feel, think or act the same as 
those who live in purer and more cheerful apartments. Nor will 
those who live on a poor quality of food think and feel the same as 
those who have the very best. 

Even the question of intemperance depends very much on how 
people live. When the brain and nervous system is only half or 
one third fed, the result is a state of starvation in the body, and a 
craving desire for something which stimulants temporarily supply. 
Therefore let temperance workers and everybody else who want to 
save men from drunkenness, introduce in our general diet more 
brain and nerve food, and thereby lessen the desire for stimulants 
and excitants in every form. And if women want to save men 
from drunkenness let them study hygiene and how to prepare the 



398 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

most nutritious and palatable food. To save a man from acquiring 
an appetite for drink is much better, cheaper and less trouble than 
weaning him from it. 

One summer I visited some of the watering places of America, 
such as Saratoga, Long Branch, Ocean Grove and Richfield Springs. 
Many sick persons go there, or pretend they do, to recuperate by 
drinking the famous waters of those places, or for taking sea-baths, 
both of which are undoubtedly valuable means of cure when prop- 
erly used. But, alas! the most of them simply abuse the remedies, 
especially the mineral waters. They live in a high and extravagant 
style, they eat, drink, sleep and gorge themselves with all kinds of 
rich, greasy food till they are bilious and costive, then go to the 
springs and guzzle down twice as much water as they ought to in 
order to loosen their bowels and clean out their insides ; and to accel- 
lerate the action of the water, they drink it (that is, the Hathorn) 
just before breakfast, and then when they sit down to the table the 
first thing they have is a cup of hot, strong coffee. Thus they really 
counteract the very effect they aim to produce; for while the hot 
coffee may make the water act quicker, it is to a great many persons 
the most bilious, costive and irritating thing they can take. One 
sees enough fashion and folly in these high-toned watering places in 
one week to last him a whole year. When I think of the toiling mil- 
lions who are struggling hard for food and raiment, and the unas- 
suming farmer who is laboring and sweating under the burning sun 
that he may give food to the eater, and seed to the sower, I look 
with scorn and sorrow upon the lazy, thoughtless and unthankful 
class that find their way to summer resorts and indulge in a con- 
stant round of dissipation, injuring their bodies and demoralizing 
their minds. It has been calculated that if every man in the world 
worked two hours a day that it would be sufficient to produce all 
the necessaries of life for the whole human family. Why should 
part of the race be compelled to work from eight to sixteen hours 
a day and the rest live in idleness ? But I am not censuring all ; 
some go there and act like human beings, instead of ministering 
entirely to the animal nature. Too many, however, seem to think 
and live only for the gratification of their physical and selfish na- 
tures. They want nothing by way of entertainment that is useful, 
instructive, practical or serious; nothing but dancing, music, fun, 
concerts, excitement, sensation, flirtation and style. Intellect, 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 399 

morals, common sense and religion must take a back seat, so that 
the appetites and passions may have full sway. Who wants a wife 
that has been educated in that kind of life and society three or four 
summers ? Nobody who knows what constitutes a heart companion 
and a true woman. 

I find a great many people that are also extremely careless 
where and how they keep their eatables. They seem to be en- 
tirely unconscious of the fact that bad air affects meats, liquids, and 
food in general. They put their victuals away into any kind of 
nook or corner, or ill-ventilated cupboard, that may be convenient. 
Especially is this the case in tenement houses, or where families 
are huddled together in close quarters. Well-to-do people are 
also careless in this respect, and particularly in reference to the 
sick room. Perhaps I cannot do better than insert here, by way of 
advice in this matter, a sensible paragraph I read in a newspaper: 

"Invalids should keep the refreshments covered in their sick- 
room. The jellies, blanc-manges, and various liquids used as cool- 
ing drinks, are more or less absorbent, and easily take up the impu- 
rities which float about a sick-room. A glass of milk left uncovered 
will soon become tainted with any prevailing odor, as can be proven 
by leaving it in a room freshly painted. How important, then, that 
the poisons of sickness should be carefully kept from all that is to 
be eaten." 

Another important matter relating to health is the care of the 
feet. Some people so neglect their feet that you can smell them 
all over the room, especially if they happen to take their boots off. 
Neglected feet cause a vast amount of suffering and inconvenience. 
A man's feet require air almost as much as his lungs, for if they 
cannot breathe, so to speak, they will pain and tire the whole body. 
The Jews, in the time of Christ, laid great stress on washing and 
anointing the feet; and it will pay any man who is on his feet much 
to air them occasionally during the day, wash them every day and 
change his socks. I was much impressed with the truth of another 
paragraph I saw in some paper, relating to the care of the feet, 
which I also insert: 

"There is no part of the human body that needs more attention 
than the feet. They may be neglected or even abused without any 
bad consequences being immediately felt; they will to a certainty 
be eventually felt, and felt very sorely too. An excessive flow of 



400 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

blood to the head, extreme liability to cold, disordered digestion, 
and other numerous evils are the results of inattention to the feet. 
The feet should be regularly washed and wiped every day. Stock- 
ings should not be put on while there is the slightest moisture on 
the feet. The stockings absorb the moisture, and gradually return 
it to the feet, thereby causing them to feel cold and uncomfortable, 
and what is worse, when the feet are cold, the circulation is inter- 
fered with, and the whole system, especially the brain, is thrown 
into an abnormal state. Keep the feet clean and warm, the head 
cool and the bowels open. If you wish to preserve your whole 
system in good working order, be sure and preserve your feet. 
Let all our readers profit by these remarks, and they will soon feel 
by experience that we are not exaggerating the consequences of 
proper attention to the feet." 

My advice in a condensed form to those who wish to know how 
to live and be healthy and happy, to make the most of themselves 
and live to a good old age, is simply this: study yourself physically 
and mentally; eat only pure food well cooked — not merely food for 
bones and muscles, but for brains and nerves. Also, let every part 
of the body be properly and sufficiently fed, but never surfeit the 
stomach nor sicken it with too much of one kind. Intemperance 
in eating is almost if not quite as bad as drunkenness. Have plenty 
of out-door air and exercise; remember your blood needs oxygen, 
your muscles exercise; and it will not hurt your brains if you exercise 
them a little, too, with good practical thoughts and studies. Do 
not imagine that because you are through with school studies, there 
is nothing more to learn; a wise person will be a student all through 
life. Ventilate your sleeping and living rooms thoroughly, no matter 
whether it is summer or winter, and do not fool yourself as millions 
do by thinking you can ventilate a room by simply lowering or rais- 
ing one window. You must occasionally throw open windows and 
doors and let a current of air pass through. In that way only can 
you clear out the vitiated atmosphere and impurities of the room. 

Take a sun-bath occasionally: I mean by that, strip naked and 
get into a warm room and let the direct rays of the sun shine upon 
your skin; especially, if you can, do this immediately after taking 
a water-bath. The fact of the matter is, our bath-rooms should be 
the most comfortable, pleasant, and, by all means, best lighted 
rooms in the house, and not the miserable little dungeons that they 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 4OI 

generally are. Then bathing would be a pleasure and a luxury 
desired by all, both rich and poor. When will landlords, hotel and 
boarding-house keepers awake on this question, and realize that 
bathing is part of a man's living, and just as essential as hash and 
beefsteak? Keep your dwellings well lighted. If you saw a house 
to let in which all the windows were very small, you would not rent 
it; and yet, strange to say, when you get one with fine, large win- 
dows, you buy thick, gloomy blinds that will not admit any light 
to pass through them, and when they are fastened up you draw 
them down about two thirds of the way, thus making your houses 
almost as bad as the dwellings of a good many people down South, 
that have no windows at all in them, only a door in the middle. 
This is wrong; your day-blinds should be of light color and thin, 
so as to let a nice, soft light pass through and make your room 
cheerful. Have your rooms large with high ceilings. There is 
plenty of room in the world for you to have a living place large 
enough to be healthy and comfortable in; and if some narrow- 
minded, grasping old miser builds a house and divides it up into 
apartments about large enough for two or three rats to live and 
breathe in, just you keep out of it or else you will die before your 
time comes, and be removed to a still smaller house underneath the 
ground. Like two bright and lovely young girls I met in a Chris- 
tian family in Iowa, who had been sleeping in a small, dark and 
badly ventilated room, until the scarlet fever came and carried them 
both to an early grave. Be clean in your person and especially 
your undershirts. Washing is cheap, and it is not necessary to 
wear the same flannel or drawers three or four weeks. As I have 
already intimated, bathe frequently and open the pores of the skin, 
and give the effete matter or dirt that is inside of you a chance to 
get out; then you will feel better and look and smell sweeter, and 
nature will give you a chance to live, and your company w ill be all 
the more acceptable among the good and the pure. I verily believe 
that the majority of people do not take a regular bath on the average 
once a month, when they ought to have it at least once or twice a 
week, especially in hot weather. Why, a resident of Baltimore told 
me there were lots of people in that city that had not got such a 
thing as a wash-bowl in their rooms, and that when they did wash 
their faces they went into the kitchen or yard. Be regular in all 
your good habits and avoid bad ones. Have a time to eat and a 



402 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

time to sleep. The individual who thinks he can work hard all day, 
either with brain or muscle, and then run around half the night, 
without seriously injuring himself mentally, morally and physically, 
makes a sad mistake. Sleep we want and sleep we must have. 

System and regularity in our mode of living is just as essential 
to health, as it is to success in business. Indeed, I question if one 
can be a great success in business unless he keeps the clock-work of 
life in proper running order by care and systematic training. Keep 
away from bad smells and unhealthy localities; run from them as you 
would from a viper; bad smells act like so much poison to the blood 
and system. Your nose was not made simply for ornament, but 
for the protection of your health as well, and it does not matter 
whether it is a pug nose or a Roman or Grecian, it will do its work 
all the same if you will only use it. I claim that the reason there 
are so many diseased and sluggish livers is on account of bad 
smells, bad air and bad food; for, as I have said, very few people 
seem to have healthy livers. Is it not high time some person took 
his kid gloves off and wrote plainly on this important subject ? 
Never sleep in a room or bed that feels and smells damp and un- 
comfortable. I tried it once and it came near being the last of me, 
Still the landlady insisted there was nothing wrong with the room; 
it was only fancy on my part; but I noticed she never offered to pay 
my doctor's bill. The best place is to sleep in an upstairs room, 
say twenty feet from the ground, or higher, if you can, so as to be 
free from damp air or miasma that rises during the night. 

Let not thoughts of trouble harass your mind. Never fret or 
grow cross, peevish and morose; nothing will make an old man or 
woman of you quicker. Carry no trouble to bed with you, nor to 
the meal table. If you do, you will succeed in making enemies 
rather than friends socially and financially. Let not grief have do- 
minion over your mind or it will soon ruin your health and render 
you a fit subject for the lunatic asylum. Do not make a baby of 
yourself and injure your stomach and blood eating candy. Do not 
be penny wise and pound foolish and imagine you can overwork 
and starve your brain without feeling the effects of it. A promi- 
nent physician has said that a large number of persons in the insane 
asylum are there for want of sufficient sleep and nutritious food. 
Do not be afraid to use your lungs; throw your shoulders back and 
chest forward, then breathe deep and full through the nostrils. 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 403 

Keep the mouth shut because in winter the cold air will strike the 
lungs if you breathe through the mouth, and in summer you may 
swallow mosquitoes. Leave alone quack doctors and patent medi- 
cines. Have as little to do with drugs in any way as possible; 
medicine will never supply the place of exercise, food, air, sunlight 
and bathing. O the misery that has been entailed upon the 
human family through the pernicious and constant drugging for 
nearly every little ache and ailment of the body. How it has un- 
dermined the constitution and degenerated the race, plucked the 
fairest flower of many a happy home, or extinguished the light of 
its guiding star ! Could the victims of drugs that have been carried 
to early graves, but rise from their slumbers, there would be a mul- 
titude that no man could number. When I think of the amount of 
medicine that is annually swallowed, of the stimulants that are 
drank, the tobacco that is smoked and chewed, bad and useless 
food taken into the stomach, the foul air that is breathed, and the 
filth that is endured, I wonder not that the world is one grand 
slaughter-house in which poor suffering humanity is being tortured 
and slain without mercy. 

Finally, be temperate in all things. Give way to no injurious 
habits. Yield not to dissipation or passion of any kind by day or 
night; in public or in secret. Do this, and the world will soon see 
sound minds in healthy bodies. 

THE TURKISH BATH, AND HOW TO TAKE IT. 

So important in these days of civilization do I deem the Turkish 
Dath as an agent in preserving health, that I have thought it best 
to write a few pages on its nature and the method of taking it. I 
find there are very few people who really understand what such a 
bath is. or the benefits derived from them, and a still less number who 
have ever taken them. The tendency of the human mind is to be 
slow in adopting new things and habits, especially if it is something 
that has real merit in it. Good things generally have to fight their 
way into popular favor, and the Turkish bath is no exception to 
the rule. The prejudices of people who have never fairly tried 
them have produced so much fear in the minds of over-cautious 
persons as to prevent their acceptance by the masses. The high 
price of this bath in contrast to the ordinary cold and. warm water 



404 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

baths has also prevented its popular use among the poor and even 
middle classes. One Turkish bath, however, at one dollar, is cheaper 
than four common baths at twenty-five cents each. I am sincere 
and in earnest in my statement when I say that I believe the Turk- 
ish bath to be one of the best means in the world for preventing 
disease, and thereby preserving human health and happiness, and 
lengthening out the years of one's existence, or rather, enabling a 
person to live his natural life; for a good many people die several 
years before they ought to. 

The most foolish notions prevail in regard to the administration 
of these baths. Many have probably read Mark Twain's amusing 
description of one, and taken it all in as a fact; hence, conclude they 
are about half roasted and pounded to death, and then ducked in 
cold water until they are nearly frozen, as some of the criminals 
have been served in the penitentiary for disobedience. A man 
went to one of these establishments in Baltimore, and wanted to 
know if the bath was as Mark Twain described it, and requested 
the proprietor to be easy with him as that was his first attempt. 
The man evidently thought he was going through an operation 
worse than tooth-pulling. I remember while taking a bath myself 
in New York, a gentleman came into the sweating-room and walked 
around the room a few times in a very uneasy manner; it was his 
first bath, and he was really frightened at first, but finally got over 
his nervousness and timidity. Some young women are afraid they 
would faint if they were to take one; let me say to such that they 
are more likely to faint for the want of one than by taking it. 
Others are so afraid they will take cold; when the fact is there is 
nothing left to produce a cold after you are through with a 
bath. Nearly all colds are taken when the system is in a bilious 
condition, and a bilious condition is caused by a clogging up of 
the system and pores of the skin with effete and poisonous matter, 
which the Turkish bath removes from the system by sweating it 
out. So that all these hallucinations in the minds of people about 
the dangers in taking such a bath, are the result of the organ of 
cautiousness in their heads — which is generally too large — being 
excited and sounding a false alarm. An excess of that organ 
makes people just like children: afraid of people and things they 
are not accustomed to. As to the luxury and importance some 
persons attach to these baths, the reader can judge for himself, 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 405 

when a man who knows the benefit of them will travel a hundred 
miles to visit such an institution; for I met a gentleman in a bath- 
ing-house in Boston, who told me he had come that distance for 
that purpose. And if I were sick or thought I was likely to be, and 
could not get such a bath where I was, I would rather go a hundred 
miles to take one or two baths, and return, than pay the amount of 
such a trip in medicine and medical treatment, unless it was a kind 
of sickness or accident that really demanded a physician. 

There is considerable of the Naaman style about people gener- 
ally; they all want to be cured of their respective ailments in some 
easy and high-toned way, rather than by the simple process of 
nature. Some of the ancients appreciated bathing thoroughly, but 
nowadays people are getting too modest to keep themselves clean 
and sweet. Like a young woman I know of, who was thinking of 
taking a Turkish bath, but when she found out she had to have 
another lady to attend to her and the manipulations connected 
with the bath, she backed out; she was too modest to expose her 
body before one of her own sex. That is what I call a sickening 
kind of modesty, for it generally makes its victim suffer severely. 

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with Turkish baths, I will 
describe what they are. The chief peculiarity of such a bath is 
the sweating process. It is what you may call an artificial sun 
bath. Everybody knows that the hot summer sun makes people 
perspire freely, and that they generally feel better when they sweat 
than when they do not. That is the object of the Turkish bath: 
to make a man sweat out all the waste and effete matter of his 
system. The body is constantly throwing off decomposed or dead 
matter, and two-thirds of it ought to go through the skin, which it 
cannot do unless the pores of the skin are open and in a healthy 
condition by frequent sweating and cleansing; "By the sweat of 
thy brow shalt thou earn thy bread," said the Almighty; and the 
man who never or seldom sweats is not in a very good condition 
to earn his bread, because he does not feel well, and labor is a task 
and burden, but the Turkish bath makes labor light. How could 
a man breathe if the pores or cells of his lungs were stopped up? 
and how can he sweat or discharge waste matter through his 
skin if the pores are plugged up? I know of no better way or in fact 
any other way for a man to clean out his inside, than by copious 
perspiration; because when the skin does not perform its allotted 



406 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

work, other organs of secretion have to come to the rescue, such as 
the liver, kidneys and glands, and the result is these organs are 
soon over-burdened — have more waste matter to throw off than 
they can get rid of; hence a part of it is thrown back into the 
blood and permeates the whole system; and, in time, these internal 
organs of secretion are clogged up or injured in some way, when 
disease sets in and hurries an individual off to an early grave; all 
of which trouble can be avoided by taking a Turkish bath, and 
preventing either the skin or other organs from getting out, of 
working order. 

Winter and spring is the very time of the year people need 
such baths, because they do not naturally sweat in cold weather, 
but are eating abundance of meat and greasy food which is all the 
time preparing them for a regular attack of bilious fever in the 
spring, or the first warm weather that comes to stir up the liver 
and accumulated bile. That is just why some people only take one 
Turkish bath; they have allowed their systems to become charged 
with dirt and poisonous matter, and the moment they go into the 
sweating-room the heat makes them feel stupid, dizzy and sick; 
but if they would take three or four of these baths, a day or two 
apart, they would clean out the poisonous, bilious matter in them, 
and they could sit down in the sweating room and read the news- 
paper with comfort. The Turkish bath produces a similar feeling 
on bilious persons the first time they take it that the hot sun does, 
only that and nothing more; and goes to prove conclusively that 
they ought to have taken such a bath long before, then they would 
not feel so faint and sick. Another peculiarity of the Turkish bath 
is the hand manipulation. It is rather difficult for a man to give 
himself a good bath, because after he has had a good sweating all 
the waste, greasy matter that has been discharged through the 
pores of the skin, needs to be rubbed and washed off. And it is 
astonishing to see how much of that dead, greasy stuff a man's 
body is relieved of in the process of sweating, washing and rubbing. 
To sweat as people do in hot weather without being washed and 
rubbed, simply leaves this effete matter upon the surface of the 
skin, to be again partially absorbed and make people feel clammy 
and uncomfortable. Then the friction of the hands in rubbing the 
bare flesh causes a healthy glow to the skin, helps the circulation 
and secretory power of the pores of the skin. Again, the rubbing 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 407 

and slight patting a man gets (not sledge-hammer pounding as some 
think) tend to toughen the muscles, limber the joints, tone up the 
stomach and produce activity in the bowels. I always have a good 
appetite just after taking a bath. Constipation is caused by the 
liver not secreting sufficient bile to lubricate the bowels; and any 
kind of healthful exercise, whether by labor or rubbing, that will 
produce activity in the abdominal region will help to counteract 
constipation. Those accustomed to riding have no doubt noticed 
the easy and frequent action of a horse's bowels as soon as he 
begins to trot. Laziness and inactivity of the body will almost 
inevitably tend to bring on constipation and piles. 

Ordinary or slight fever accompanied with thirst, comes from 
the clogging up of the system by over-eating. 

Most people do not know how dirty they are until they go 
and take a Turkish bath; for a man's skin may be washed so 
clean looking that he would naturally think it impossible to be any 
cleaner, but let him sweat a while and he will find out he was far 
from being clean. After a man comes out of a Turkish bath, his 
skin looks whiter, fresher and younger, and he feels about ten years 
younger himself. Let those women who want to be beautiful (and 
every woman ought to make herself as good-looking as possible) 
and have nice, clear complexions, try Turkish baths, and they will 
find them much better cosmetics than any of the daubing trash 
they buy at drug stores. If women want beautiful complexions, 
let them get the dirt out of their skin pores instead of filling them 
up with powder and paint. Let them give nature a chance to 
blossom, as it were. 

A great many are dirty on the outside of their bodies as well as 
on the inside, because they seldom take any kind of a bath; like a 
Jew who went'to a Turkish bath institution, and the attendant told 
me it took two or three applications to get him clean; that he did 
not think he had taken a bath in a year. He was so filthy that he 
would not touch him until he had sprinkled him off. 

Business men will find more rest and relaxation for their aching 
brains and weary bodies by taking one of these baths, than they 
will by going to a theater and inhaling the impure air that gener- 
ally abounds in such places. And even if the air is tolerable pure, 
the imaginary relief they get is not to be compared with the Turk- 
ish bath. Try them, ladies and gentlemen, and be convinced for 



408 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

yourselves, but do not try them the way a young lady did, who 
took one and then quit, because it made her head ache (which only 
went to prove how badly she needed such baths long before); just 
take them until your head-ache and all other kinds of aches are 
cured, rheumatism not excepted. I heard of a man who took over 
one hundred baths for rheumatism, and finally cured it. 

A good plan for those who are bilious and liable to head-ache 
while taking them, is to wet the top of the head and keep it wet 
while you are in the sweating room. If you are feverish and slen- 
der, and do not wish to reduce your flesh or weight, drink plenty 
of water while in the hot room; also if you do not perspire easily. 
But if you want to reduce your flesh, do not drink any water, then 
you will sweat out some of the water of your blood. With a little 
experience and common sense you can adapt the bath to suit your 
constitution and taste. 

Not only is the Turkish bath good for liver troubles, but of 
almost indescribable benefit to the lungs, inasmuch as it relieves 
the lungs of a vast amount of work; for the skin as well as the 
lungs supply the blood with air to purify it; hence, if the skin is 
not kept clean and the pores open, extra work is thrown upon the 
lungs; and if they happen to be weak and small, as is often the 
case, they are so over-burdened that they cannot possibly keep the 
blood pure; and the result is, disintegration of the tissues, the 
accumulation of morbid secretions, accompanied with sweating 
fevers — a nest of physical evils which summed up in one word is 
commonly called consumption. Hence, to prevent consumption, 
especially in people of small lung power — the facial sign of which 
is in their nostrils — it is absolutely essential to let the naked body 
be occasionally exposed to the air and sunlight, and be perfectly 
clean, that it may perform its work in assisting the lungs to air and 
purify the blood. No man can afford to keep his body constantly 
covered up from head to foot. He needs to bathe in air and sun- 
light, if I may so express, as well as he does in water. The excess- 
ive dressing and covering up of the body is the bodily ruin of 
thousands. My friends sometimes say to me, "How can you 
stand the cold weather with such little covering over your limb;?" 
When the fact is, the thermometer has to be pretty low before I feel 
the cold about my legs, with only an ordinary thickness of cloth to 
cover them; nor do I feel the cold much in my feet, with ordinary 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 409 

cotton socks, but I am very particular to keep them dry and warm 
with exercise. Why do you not feel the cold and take cold by 
exposing your face and hands as quickly as any other part of the 
body? Simply because they have become, through constant ex- 
posure, acclimated, as it were, to the action of the weather. And 
the more people make a hot-bed of themselves with constant and 
over-wrapping, the more easily will they take cold. Of course, 
I am not advocating extremes in this matter; let people dress 
warm and comfortable, but see to it that their whole body gets 
air and sunlight as often as practicable, as well as a good sweat- 
ing and application of soap and water. 

If you ask me how often you should take a Turkish bath, I 
would suggest once a week, and an air and light bath whenever 
you get a chance — every day, if convenient. If you think you 
have not time, just remember, especially ladies, how much time you 
spend every day dressing and frizzing and attending to the feeding 
and decorating of the body, just to attract and please the eyes of 
others. Would it not pay you to spend a little more time in regard 
to cleanliness that you may have healthy bodies to dress, instead 
of trying to patch up with drugs and millinery artifice a diseased 
and decaying body to drag out a miserable existence? 

Another erroneous impression with some people is, that Turkish 
baths are very weakening. With a nervous temperament and weak 
constitution there may be a feeling of lassitude for a few hours after 
the bath, similar to what such a person would experience with a 
little exertion on a warm day, but it soon passes off and leaves you 
stronger and more active. All the weakening there is about it is in 
taking out some of the dead and useless matter in your system, and 
making you probably a trifle lighter. 

As to the curative properties of the Turkish bath I leave that 
for doctors and proprietors of such institutions to discuss. My aim 
is chiefly to call the attention of the public to its preventive qual- 
ities, because if people live as they ought to they will not have 
many diseases to cure. The great study and hobby of doctors is to 
cure people after they get sick. The great study and hobby of 
phrenologists is to keep people from getting sick. Think of the 
army of doctors in this country (one to every five hundred I believe 
it has been estimated), while in Germany there is only one to every 
five thousand. And a great many of them make large sums of 



410 HOW TO LIVE, OR THE WAY 

money and live in fine houses, just because people are foolish 
enough to allow themselves to become sick and pay out their hard 
earned money to get well, or rather to get drugged and perhaps 
laid under the green sod. There is where the doctor has the 
advantage of the phrenologist — his mistakes are buried, and few if 
any are aware of them; but if a phrenologist makes a mistake he has 
a living witness to testify against him. An ex-doctor of New York 
City remarked to me that one half the physicians of that city were 
murderers. I have no desire to make a wholesale war upon the 
doctors; to a certain extent they are useful and indispensable men, 
and several of them are among my friends and acquaintances, but 
where you find one skilled and honest physician you will find half a 
dozen about the opposite, and the public has been putting too much 
confidence in doctors and their prescriptions. Many of them give 
a knowing glance at their patients, or rather victims, over the top 
of their spectacles and then put on a wise look and air to inspire con- 
fidence and appear smart in the estimation of their patients, and then 
rolling out a jaw-breaking word which they learned at college as the 
technical name for some common-place complaint, tell them they 
have such a disease, which needs to be attended to at once as their 
life is in imminent danger. The credulous patient astonished at the 
profound learning of the doctor, and half scared to death for fear he 
will die, puts his person, confidence and pocket-book in charge of 
the humbugging doctor, who half the time knows little more defi- 
nitely about what the real difficulty with the patient is, than some 
other doctor who has not seen him. Nevertheless he goes to work 
and experiments upon his patient a month or two, till he resolves to 
try another physician who, on an examination, pronounces the diag- 
nosis and treatment of the former doctor wrong, in which decision 
he is most likely right, and probably the only thing as far as the 
patient is concerned that he is right about. For after treating him 
his way for a month or two, the patient concludes to try another or 
third physician, who, profiting by the experience of the other two 
or being more skilled in his profession, discovers what the trouble 
is. And that is just where the physician so often fails; he does not 
really know what the trouble with the patient is and therefore can- 
not possibly cure him. Medicine is not a science; it is more exper- 
imental than phrenology is. What would the people think if from 
two to half a dozen phrenologists were to examine a man's head 



TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 41 1 

and each one give him a different character? They would of course 
either conclude that phrenology was a humbug or the men who did 
the examining. All classes of men are liable to mistakes; no human 
being is infallible, and so different phrenologists may differ a little 
in two or three points of character, but not in a wholesale way 
as doctors often do, notwithstanding there have been thousands of 
doctors studying the diseases of the body where there has been 
one phrenologist to study human character and its manifesta- 
tions in the skull and face. 

But to return to my subject : I claim that the Turkish bath 
properly used is an invaluable agent in preserving the health, and 
therefore preventing disease, and a very good time to take it is 
just before dinner or supper. Be sure, however, you go to a good 
place where they give the bath properly and have good attendants, 
for there are imitations of these baths as well as other things. 
I saw an improved Turkish bath advertised in one city where I 
was stopping a short time. I thought I would try it, and found 
it to be the worst abortion in the way of a Turkish bath I ever 
saw or heard of. 

There are other baths, however, somewhat different from the 
Turkish bath, yet similar in the results obtained. I refer to the 
Russian and Electro-thermo baths. The Russian is a vapor bath 
and consists in getting into a room full of steam and sweating by 
the heat and moisture thus produced on the skin instead of dry air 
as in the Turkish bath. The Electro-thermo bath consists in get- 
ting into an enclosed box with your head left outside in the natural 
or cool atmosphere, while your body is heated up to a state of 
perspiration, and electricity at the same time applied to the back 
and feet. It is a very comfortable bath to take, and especially con- 
venient for ladies. The washing off and rubbing is similar in the 
three kinds, and is a matter of choice to the individual as to which 
he takes, though personally I prefer by far the Turkish or Electro- 
thermo to the Russian, and think either of them a better bath. 
If, however, you are under treatment let your physician advise you 
as to the best kind to take. Of course, every man who has a par- 
ticular kind of bath will recommend his own as superior to all 
others. The Roman bath consists in rubbing the body with oil 
after taking one of the other baths just mentioned. As to the ben- 
eficial effects of the Roman, I cannot speak definitely, as I have 



412 THE WAY TO HEALTH AND OLD AGE. 

neither investigated nor experimented with any oil bath. I can 
only offer an opinion or suggestion, which is that the oil would 
keep the pores of the skin open and give it a chance to do its 
work, and may be a good thing in case of fever, but please remem- 
ber this is simply my opinion. I claim no knowledge or authority 
in reference to the use of oil. Air, water, food and sunlight I 
have used, and can speak of with at least a moderate degree of 
positive knowledge. 



FLIRTATION. 



The Art of Flirting — What it Springs from — A Soft Flirt— Sunday-School Flirts — Summer 
Resort Flirts — Church Flirts — Charge of the Light-Headed Blondes — Two Kinds 
of Flirtation— A Family of Flirts — Mistaken Ideas of Flirting— Its Effect upon the 
Affections— Why Flirting is an Evil — Its Impress on the Face — Mental Effects of 
Flirtation — How it acts upon the Religious Character of Persons — The Influence of 
the Music Organs — The Conscience of Flirts — A Polite Flirt — High-School Flirts 
— A Green Flirt from the Country and his Experience — Changeableness of Flirts — 
Poetry — A Theater Flirt — Flirting in Salem, Mass. — Two Sabbath-School Pupils — 
Men Flirts — Drummers and Agents — Men often Wrongfully Accused of Insulting 
Ladies on the Street — Half Recognition and Full Recognition of Acquaintances 
by Ladies — School-Girls, and how one of them Acted — Inherited Tendencies to 
Flirt— A Funny Little Girl— A Flirt's Letter— Poetry— A Flirt's Diary— Dishonest 
Flirts — Their Business Qualities — Soft Young Men — An Old Flirt in Chicago — The 
Kind of Minds that Flirt — Superficial Education — Poetry. 



. FLIRTING is the art of forming acquaintances and carrying on 
conversation in an improper manner and with improper feelings; 
receiving and giving attentions with improper motives. It is the 
giving out and calling out the affections without being in earnest 
— the prostitution of the affections — the mere animal impulse 
similar to that manifested by dogs. It is a sort of social theft — a 
sneaky, underhand, covert way of enlisting and drawing out the 
feelings and affections. It springs from a perverted combination of 
amativeness and mirthfulness, with generally a light, frivolous 
character; the latter being chiefly produced by novel reading, which 
makes girls light-headed, silly and adventurous, and boys bold, 
daring and reckless. These two faculties combined give first, a de- 
sire to talk with and be in the company of the opposite sex, which 
desire arises from amativeness; and, secondly, a desire for a mys- 
terious, maneuvering and funny way of making acquaintances and 
then conversing with and managing them, which desire springs 
from animal cunning and the organs of human nature and mirthful- 
ness. This last faculty gives persons a desire to experiment, to try 
something new, and also imparts a disposition to make fun, as 
well as the talent to perceive the absurd and the ridiculous. It is 



414 FLIRTATION. 

not simply getting acquainted with people without an introduction 
that I term flirting, but rather the sly, mysterious, half-ashamed, 
cunning, unmanly and unwomanly way of doing it; the silly man- 
ner of talking and acting, as well as the silly and trashy conversa- 
tion carried on, which is generally more soft and stupid than baby 
talk. An example of this I saw in a girl going home in the street 
cars one night, who related in the presence and hearing of all the 
other passengers what a young man, who had been flirting with her 
during the day, said to her. 

All flirts, however, are not quite as soft as she was. Many of 
them have just enough sense and secretiveness to keep things to 
themselves, especially in public. Flirts never think they are soft, 
nor are the most of them willing to admit they ever do such a thing. 
In fact, it makes them mad to be told they flirt, but while they do 
not like to be accused of it, they like to do it all the same. They 
remind me of two convicts I talked with in the penitentiary on 
Blackwell's Island, N. Y., one a woman, the other a man. When I 
asked the woman what she was there for, she replied, " O, for a 
very simple thing: some ladies accused me of stealing, and I was 
sent here," intimating that she was being wrongfully punished. 
And when I asked the man what he was there for, he said, "For 
nothing. I was just walking along the street and a policeman 
came up and arrested me." There are very few criminals who are 
willing to own up that they are guilty or justly punished, and that 
is about the way with flirts; they like the fun of flirting, but not the 
name. Many of them have not sense enough to see that they are 
soft, silly and flirty. A young and pretty saleslady in Chicago, fresh 
from the country, had made the acquaintance of and was flirting 
with a young man at her stand in the store. When spoken to in 
a pleasant way about it, she replied, "Why, I don't call that flirt- 
ing, to talk with a person I know." "How long have you known 
him?" was the question asked. "Why," said she, "I have known 
him two or three weeks!" N. P. Willis, the poet, says a flirt is like 
a dipper attached to a hydrant; every one is at liberty to drink 
from it, but no one desires to carry it away. 

Though flirts are generally shallow-brained and of a low order 
of intelligence, with some exceptions, of course, they are invariably 
shrewd and well informed on two points. They know where the 
best place is to flirt, and how to do it; in other words, they under- 



FLIRTATION. 415 

stand their business, and prefer city life to that of the country; and 
the larger and gayer the city the better. A young woman of a 
flirty nature, stopping at a boarding-house where I was in Phila- 
delphia, said she would rather live in New York than in heaven 
almost, though she had never seen New York, and if she clings to 
that sentiment long will probably never see heaven either. As to 
their ingenious ways of making acquaintances or trying to do so, 
one or two instances will serve to illustrate. Walking along Fifth 
Avenue, New York, one winter, I observed three young ladies 
having a lively time just ahead of me. The middle one, seeing a 
favorable opportunity, slipped and tumbled down on the pavement 
accidentally on purpose, and as gracefully as a swan glides into the 
water. She was in no hurry to get up, nor did the others seem to 
be in a hurry to help her up till I got about up to them, when the 
other two lazily and laughingly took her by each arm, and as they 
helped her up she turned her head around and looked at me in an 
arch and knowing way, as much as to say, "Are you not going to 
help too?" Another young woman I met in my travels, who was an 
exception to the rule, and was free to own up that she liked to flirt, 
told me how she and another girl who were at church one evening 
wanted to get up a flirtation with the young man who took up 
the collection. They were puzzled, she said, to know how to begin, 
but quick as thought almost they discovered a plan. So when he 
passed around the collection plate they put in some chestnut shells. 
That made him blush, as he had to pass the plate to others who 
saw the nut shells. (But what do daring flirts care about making a 
young man blush; they rather like it, because it goes to show that 
he is sensitive, tender and fresh in the business.) But that funny 
little trick told its tale and its effect upon the young man. He took 
the hint, and when he had turned the miscellaneous collection of 
money, nut-shells and perhaps a few buttons into the Lord's treas- 
ury, and church was dismissed, he followed the two flirts. They 
were on the lookout, of course, and saw him coming. Accommo- 
dating creatures as flirts sometimes are, they must give him a 
chance to speak and get acquainted without being rude, as he was 
a church-going young man, hence when he was about up to them 
one of them slipped down upon the sidewalk in a way that girls 
know how to do. Gallant young man, only too glad for the chance, 
stepped forward and picked her up, was thanked, of course, and 



416 FLIRTATION. 

in return requested the pleasure of seeing her home, which was 
readily granted. The other girl seeing how well the slipping bus- 
iness worked thought she would try it also, in order to attract 
special attention to herself. Girls, however, who slip down on 
purpose for young men to slip up (and pick them up), should be 
careful or they may keep on slipping till they slip down to hell. 

There were two flirts with features fair, 
And heads adorned with auburn hair; 
And though they looked so very cute, 
They were often dull and mute. 

Said one flirt unto the other: 
"What shall we do to catch a feller?" 
The other said: "To church we'll go! 
And there perchance we'll catch a beau." 

"Agreed! 'tis there we'll wend our way; 
'Tis there we'll speak but never pray; 
And look so innocent and meek, 
We'll have a beau within a week." 

So off to the meeting they went, 
And there to their feelings gave vent; 
The old folks sighed, the young ones smiled, 
And the flirts looked modest and mild. 

So beaus they came and beaus they went, 
Till the winter was nearly spent; 
But they couldn't get married that way, 
So they both pack'd up and left one day. 

When lecturing in Muscatine, Iowa, I visited a Sabbath- school 
in the afternoon, and noticed a rather handsome, well-dressed 
young lady trying, or rather pretending to teach a class of boys, 
but she was really more interested in flirting with a young man who 
was sitting in the seat adjoining hers. She had no control over the 
boys whatever, nor was she making any good impression on their 
minds. Putting flirts into Sunday-school classes is a great mis- 
take, and a decided injury to those placed under their charge. 

While stopping at Old Orchard Beach, near Portland, Maine, a 
young lady, of a thoughtful and devotional turn of mind, concluded 
she would get the young people of the hotel together and hold a 
Bible class. She quietly got six or eight seated on the steps facing 
the ocean. Most of them were inclined to study the Bible with 



FLIRTATION. 417 

reverence, but there were two flirts, one particularly, who joined 
the party just for sport. She would have no Bible, she only wanted 
to look on and listen, but her ambition seemed to be to make light 
of every thing said; to laugh and make others laugh; while her 
conduct was most frivolous and disgusting. Flirts have very little 
reverence for any day, place, occasion or person. I remember three 
or four young people who would feel insulted to be considered any- 
thing short of ladies and gentlemen, who remained to witness the 
partaking of the Lord's Supper in one of the large churches of 
Chicago. They were seated among the members of the church, 
but their irreverent and disrespectful behavior annoyed and pained 
the hearts of all Christians who were compelled to witness their 
whisperings and smiling, and their unbecoming actions. I remem- 
ber another instance where two young ladies (though the word 
ladies is too good to be applied to such characters) laughed as 
hard as they could without making a noise, while the choir was 
singing the Lord's Prayer in a church in Saratoga. This flirtation 
business in churches has got to a pitch which is almost intolerable. 
Why, there is a prominent church in the West, where, a few years 
ago, the young people when inquiring of their acquaintances if they 
intended going there in the evening, would say: " Are you going 
to Rev. matinee to-night ?" 

I once attended a church in Haverhill, Mass., where the conduct 
of half-a-dozen young flirts in front of me was so annoying that I 
concluded a little change in the wording of Tennyson's " Charge of 
the Light Brigade " might be truthfully applied to them. 



CHARGE OF THE LIGHT-HEADED BLONDES. 



Half a league, half a league, 

Half a league onward! 
All in the pews of the church 
Strolled the six flirts. 
Forward the Light Brigade! 
Charge for some fun, they said. 
Into the pews of the church 
Strolled the six flirts. 

Forward the Light Brigade! 
Was there a one dismayed? 
Not though they all well knew 



418 FLIRTATION. 

That they had blundered — 
Theirs not to pray or cry, 
Theirs not to reason why, 
Theirs but to flirt and die — 
Into the pews of the church 
Strolled the six flirts. 

Flirts to the right of me — 
Flirts to the left of me — 
Flirts in the front of me — 
Whispered and giggled ; 
Stormed at with looks and frowns, 
Boldly they sat like clowns! 
Into the jaws of death, 
Into the mouth of hell, 
Stroll such wicked flirts! 

Flashed all their faces bare — 
Flashed as they turned in air 
Sab' ring the fellows there! 
Charging the audience, while 

All around wondered — 
Plunged in passion's smoke, 
Right through good manners broke! 
The church and people 
Reeled from their daring stroke 

Almost bewildered — 
As in the pews of the church 
Sat the six flirts. 

Flirts to the right of me — 
Flirts to the left of me — 
Flirts from behind me — 
Whispered and smiled. 
Stormed at with looks of shame, 
While people went and came, 
They that had fought so well 
With love's bow and arrow, 
Rushed from their seats in church, 
All that was left of them — 
Left of those six flirts — 
Those wicked six flirts! 

When can their mem'ry fade? 
O, the wild charge they made! 

All around wondered — 
Shame on the charge they made! 
Shame on that Light Brigade! 
Those wicked six flirts. 



FLIRTATION. 419 

There are two kinds of flirtation; one is when a lady or gentle- 
man makes a business of forming the acquaintance of a second 
party, and keeping such company regularly, perhaps exclusively, 
for two or three months, and perhaps a year; favoring this party 
with all the courtesies of courtship, bestowing marks of esteem and 
tokens of love, then dropping his or her society and playing the 
same role of endearment with a second, third, and sometimes a 
dozen different individuals. Sometimes these heartless specimens 
of humanity will even go so far as to become engaged, frequently 
to two or three persons at the same time. Such performances are 
martyrdom to the affections and suicide to the soul! Many a man 
and woman have been completely broken down in spirit and ruined 
for life by such unholy and devilish tricks. No person having an 
ordinary amount of moral principle would be guilty of such a thing. 
Occasionally experienced flirts try their arts on one another; then 
it is diamond cut diamond, and they practically say to each other 
in the language of some writer: 

"In vain you strive with all your art, 
By turns to fire and freeze my heart." 

I remember a family in which there were three or four young 
ladies, all of them affected more or less with the flirtation disease. 
One of them had deceived a young man for over a year; and the 
second had promised to marry a gentleman who went to the ex- 
pense of building a house, only to be left a forlorn, broken-hearted 
man. Such women and men are nothing more nor less than soul- 
murderers! Death is the penalty for those who murder the body, 
but they who thus murder the soul are frequently considered 
smart, winning and captivating. And another statement by N. P. 
Willis is applicable to the above class of women, when he says: 
"A coquette is one who tries on hearts like shoes, and throws them 
away with as little ceremony as misfits of morocco." 

I do not consider it flirtation when a gentleman, through ac- 
quaintanceship or friendship, calls upon one or more ladies occa- 
sionally, and takes them out for a walk, to church, to a lecture or 
some place of amusement, without making any demonstration of 
love beyond ordinary attachment. Nevertheless, this is what some 
persons improperly term flirtation. There are many young ladies 
not satisfied with the occasional call and company of respectable 
young men, in a social, friendly way, but must have one exclusively ( 



420 FLIRTATION. 

or none at all. They are of the same mind as a senator's little girl, 
only nine years old, that was listening to some conversation in the 
parlor about beaus, when she wittingly chimed in: "If I had a beau 
and he went with any other girl, I would sit down on him." I hold 
that no young lady or gentleman has any right to the exclusive 
company of another, unless it be in pure courtship with intention 
of marriage. Nor is this a matter of mere opinion, but it is the 
teaching of phrenological science. To be constantly making love 
just for the fun of the thing, is to prostitute the affections as really 
as improper sexual intercourse is prostitution of the body; and, 
moreover, the former is invariably the cause or preparatory step to 
the latter. Persons do not become prostitutes and libertines until 
the affections are disturbed, injured, wounded, or made abnormal in 
some way. I maintain, therefore, that it would be far better for 
young people, morally, socially and intellectually, to mingle in a 
more general social manner, instead of being on close, intimate 
terms for brief occasions with diffeient individuals. Such a course 
of action would do more to break up flirtation than any other 
means I know of, because one reason for young people flirting is 
the desire ior the company of the opposite sex. Making love 
should never be carried on unless one is in earnest about it. The 
reason why a more general and social mingling between the sexes 
is preferable to exclusive association for short periods, or where 
matrimony is not intended, is because the affections are not drawn 
out, and do not become so intensely active, disturbed or divided, as 
they are liable to be in exclusive association. Young people want 
society and must have it; otherwise their social natures will suffer 
starvation; but they must be careful how they feed them — what 
kind of social food they take. 

Changing the affections from one person to another produces 
inconstancy, because it diminishes two organs, which, when large, 
keep the affections centered and settled upon one object. Continuity 
and conjugality are the two organs that are injured or diminished 
in size, and consequently in power, by flirtation. Conscientiousness 
frequently suffers too, while amativeness becomes more active and 
grows larger. Hence, the entire social nature is thrown out of bal- 
ance. I am aware that in the form of flirtation I have been alluding 
to, the affections, as a rule, are not strong between the parties; nev- 
ertheless, there is enough love about it to leave an influence behind. 



FLIRTATION. 42 1 

The second kind or form of flirtation is improper promiscuous 
acquaintanceship and association; a species of disorderly conduct 
practiced by persons in all places of public resort. Two persons 
become partially acquainted for the time being, and hold social 
intercourse in an unnatural manner and through unnatural means. 
It is unnatural because it is stealing a march upon the affections and 
done with improper motives and feelings; a dishonest use and exer- 
cise of the social nature; a desecration of the most sacred and pow- 
erful feelings or functions of the human soul. Hence, flirtation and 
proper unrestrained social intercourse bear the same relation to 
each other that policy does to principle, or dishonesty to honesty. 
I am not arguing, nor do I believe, that forming acquaintances 
without an introduction is of itself wrong, or necessarily injurious; 
on the contrary, some of the strongest and purest friendships on 
earth have existed and do exist between persons who have acci- 
dentally and innocently come together without any formal intro- 
duction. For, after all, introductions are in most cases merely a 
polite way of initiating persons into each other's society, and not a 
guarantee of character either morally, socially or intellectually. 

But it is the peculiar manner, the unnatural feelings, and im- 
proper or unholy thoughts, which flirts must necessarily indulge in, 
that renders the practice objectionable and evil. Every man and 
woman who has a live and intelligent conscience, must instinctively 
feel a sense of guilty shame creeping over and darting through their 
hearts when in pursuit of such imaginary pleasure. It is a kind of 
feeling that destroys, in time, the nobility of the soul, and belittles 
persons even in their own estimation! They cannot entirely divest 
themselves of the feeling or idea that they are doing something 
they ought not to do, or ; at least, something of a questionable char- 
acter. It creates in persons a sly and somewhat double-dealing 
disposition, and tends to decrease their frankness, truthfulness and 
uprightness. All flirts (using the term flirt to include both sexes) 
have the signs of their character plainly written or indelibly en- 
graved upon their countenance; and these can only be removed by 
the gradual transformation of their characters. Nor does it require 
a skilled physiognomist to interpret these signs. Anyone possess- 
ing fair ability to read human nature will readily detect the language 
and expression of flirtation, as represented or pictured in the ex- 
pression of the face. Say not, then, that flirtation is an innocent 



422 FLIRTATION. 

amusement, for whosoever thus persuades himself or herself, will 
assuredly be deceived. 

I will now pass on to treat of the mental effects of flirtation. 
And in order to make it clear to the mind of the reader, I will first 
mention the organs mostly exercised by flirts. They are amative- 
ness and mirthfulness chiefly, with secretiveness generally in addi- 
tion, and with experts, a mingling of human nature. For the benefit 
of those not familiar with phrenological language and its meaning, 
I will define the organs mentioned. Amativeness is love for the 
opposite sex and a desire for their company. Mirthfulness is a love 
or a desire for fun, wit, liveliness, experimentiveness, etc. Secre- 
tiveness is the ability to conceal and restrain one's feelings; to 
practice tactics, policy, management and evasion. Human nature 
is the ability to read others by the expression of the countenance; 
intuitive perception of character and disposition. It also assists 
persons in knowing how to manage as well as understand others. 
To exercise two or more of these faculties without the controlling 
and counteracting influence of the intellectual and moral organs, will 
tend to make one light-headed, frivolous, sly and suspicious, as all 
flirts are, more or less. That is, they lack thoughtfulness and solidity 
of character, and are prone to a kind of mental dissipation, which 
destroys the essential qualifications of the true man and woman, viz. : 
common sense, and a practical recognition of the object and duties 
of life. Amativeness and mirthfulness being the two principal 
organs used in flirtation, it follows that the thoughts of flirts are 
mostly centered upon the opposite sex and upon fun; hence, they 
are entirely unfit for business purposes, or to fill any responsible 
position in life requiring attention and good judgment. 

The ungoverned action of these two organs likewise prevents 
all inclination for anything of a serious or religious nature. Chris- 
tian flirts, or rather flirts belonging to a church, are seldom, if ever, 
Christian workers. They have no taste or desire for active, earnest 
labor for the good of others. They are in for a lively time, and the 
little piety they have serves only to take them to church and mod- 
ify the action or nature of their feelings. Not a few young people, 
some of them members and some merely attendants, will carry on 
their flirtations right ^in the sanctuary and even at the prayer meet- 
ings. A church member told a young lady if she wanted to get a 
beau, to come to the prayer meeting; and I fear that to many, the 



FLIRTATION. 423 

most interesting part of a young people's prayer meeting is the 
after part. One need not go to a theater to see love scenes; Romeo 
and Juliet is too often played in the pews and galleries of our 
churches. So we need no stronger proof of its demoralizing influ- 
ence upon the character and religious nature of young persons. 

There are two other faculties, however, which tend to lead the 
young into the practice I refer to. These are the music organs, 
time and tune, which, when large and connected with an active, 
lively temperament, render persons very fond of dancing. Hence, 
with a certain class, dancing and flirtation are connected, and in 
many instances dancing parties are nothing more nor less than 
flirtation parties; at least one leads to the other. 

The nature and evil of flirtation thoughts and desires is, that 
they lower the tone and quality of the mind, heart and spiritual 
nature. They weaken one's moral principle, and make dormant 
their ambition. The whole attention is thereby turned toward and 
set upon the opposite sex. Everything else is of secondary consid- 
eration, because amativeness controls all the other organs. It 
makes causality, the reasoning organ, think about and devise ways, 
plans and schemes for holding intercourse with the other sex; 
makes acquisitiveness provide means for mingling in their society; 
makes approbativeness and ideality absorbed in dressing well and 
presenting a good external appearance; makes secretiveness resort 
to shrewdness in tactics and low cunning, in order to secure its 
object or carry out its designs; makes conscientiousness blind and 
senseless, so that it sees little or no harm in the practice. When- 
ever amativeness sits enthroned and propels and controls the action 
of all the other organs, there will be trouble and degradation in the 
soul. It is evident, then, that to concentrate the mind on the sexes 
more than on any other subject, is not only injurious and sinful, but 
tends to insanity on that subject. 

Flirts have very little conscience in matters pertaining to social 
life. They are liars and deceivers, and if they are caught in a lie 
and brought face to face with it, they will generally tell another 
lie by denying the first one. That is, they will declare they never 
made such a statement; they meant something else. They will 
deceive their best friends by falsehood and a make-believe way of 
acting; for when a girl deceives her mother, as she often does, she 
deceives one who will do more for her than any other being on 



424 FLIRTATION. 

earth. That girl or boy who does not make a confidant of her or 
his mother (if she is worthy of the name of mother), is, in plain lan- 
guage, a fool. In my travels, I one day went into a place of busi- 
ness where I met a young girl, an entire stranger, who, I at once 
concluded, was a flirt, and taking her to be an interesting case, I 
thought I would try her. So I began conversation and found it 
only required about five minutes' talk to make a conditional en- 
gagement thai if I was in the city over Sunday, to meet her in the 
evening coming out of one of the churches. She said her folks 
were away from home, and she had been having a lively time for 
the last week or two. Her oldest brother was the hardest one to 
manage, as he watched her closely, "but as far as mother is con- 
cerned," said she, "I can make her believe anything." In many 
respects she was a nice young lady, but in this she was a simpleton, 
because she would flirt, then lie to deceive her mother. It is really 
astonishing how such girls play sharp on their mothers and even 
their fathers, too. Like a girl who wanted to take part in some 
theatrical performance when she knew her father would decidedly 
object, so she wrote to her friend as follows: "Jennie, I would like 
to take part ever so much in 'Caste,' but cannot unless you wait 
for papa to go away, which will be in the course of two or three 
weeks, possibly sooner; as for getting mamma's consent I think that 
can be easily done." (Especially if her mother was anything like 
herself when young.) 

While calling at the office of a superintendent of public schools, 
in Indiana, I found him engaged in giving an earnest lecture of 
reproval to one of the high school pupils, for playing truant. She 
was evidently a flirt, too, for she carried the signs of it strongly in 
her face; and that was what she played truant for. 'She would get 
her father to write letters to be excused from school, while her 
mother knew nothing about it; and her father would probably 
think she was doing errands for her mother. I remember the case 
of a young man in Iowa, whom I saw one winter day, just out of 
school at noon. A man was distributing circulars, and as in passing 
along he offered him one, I noticed he refused it, remarking, as an 
excuse, it was too cold to take his hands out of his pocket; but I 
observed it was not too cold for him to stand up, or rather lean 
against a tree, and wait for a girl to come along. It is never too 
cold to flirt. 



FLIRTATION. 425 

Sometimes flirting is rather an expensive kind of business, espe- 
cially when one of the parties is green or has a soft spot somewhere 
in his brain, like a man who came to visit the Chicago Exposition, 
and became interested in one of the salesladies who happened to 
be pleasing and fascinating in her ways, and a sharp flirt. He 
bought five dollars' worth of things and gave them to her; also, 
took a nice ring off his finger and gave her that; invited her out to 
supper, and, in fact, was very kind, attentive and generous. The 
girl took all he had to give, but as she thought the five dollars 
would be more useful than the goods, she put them in the case 
again and pocketed the money. I presume that affectionate but 
simple man expects to hear from his would-be sweet-heart yet, but 
if I am not much mistaken he will be a sadder and wiser man before 
that time arrives. Rings and hearts are sometimes given in ex- 
change, but it is rather a risky, uncertain piece of business to try 
to ring the heart of a flirt, especially a city flirt; and if you should 
chance to awaken tender emotions in her treacherous heart, there 
is no telling how long they will last, for the truth of the matter is, 
a flirt is very much like a colt, and trying to catch one is like try- 
ing to harness and drive a spirited, refractory and frisky steed. It 
takes hard labor to get such an animal tamed down. Thus it is 
with frisky, flirty young women; they never seem to get tamed 
down in their nature till they are married and become mothers of 
two or three children; then a portion of them get sensible, while 
some of them carry their flirting on as long as they have power to 
attract attention. 

The lack of continuity, which imparts a desire for change, is 
another cause of flirtation. Hence, the desire to change from one 
person to another, like a squirrel or a bird hopping from branch to 
branch and from tree to tree. In fact, flirts are regular busy-bees; 
they pass from one person to another, trying to get a little fun and 
love here, and a little there, and a little all over. Then they are 
about as changeable as the wind; they smile softly and sweetly on 
you to-day, and to-morrow they smile again, but not quite as soft 
or sweet, and by the third day they have changed their tune and 
smile no more — they have caught another fish! 

O for a flirt, a charming flirt, 

With eyes so bright and heart so free; 
Whose love comes out in rapid spurts, 

And dies away no more to be. 



426 FLIRTATION. 

O for a flirt, a lively flirt, 

With pretty nose and under lip, 
Who never will a victim hurt 

Except to let him gently slip. 

O the sly flirts, those funny flirts, 

With eyes so bright with youthful glee; 

Whose fickle love but roams and flits 
Like restless birds from tree to tree! 

O the sweet flirts, the dizzy flirts, 

With hearts so soft and brains so small 

They scarce know what to do but flirt, 
And spend their evenings at some ball. 

O the poor flirts, the brazen flirts, 

With wicked hearts and roguish eyes, 
Whose love bursts out in sudden spurts 

As meteors shoot across the skies! 

O the wild flirts, the daring flirts, 

With smiling looks and winning ways, 
Whose souls are full of mirth and tricks 

Until they wilt and pass away. 

O the fair flirts, the naughty flirts, 

Who sometimes wander, sin and fall, 
Because they always catch a flirt, 

And tell him to be sure and call. 

So crazy with the flirting mania are some young women, that 
they are not contented when they have the society of a gentleman, 
but must flirt with some other man, even in his presence. I heard 
of a case of this kind that took place in a theater. A certain young 
man noticed his lady (with whom he was keeping company) flirting 
with a man seated in one of the boxes. He did not li,ke that kind of 
fun, but he was equal to the occasion and circumstances, however, 
and turning round to his lady he politely asked her if she would 
like to make his acquaintance. True to her nature, she said yes; 
so he left his seat and walked over to the man, and asked him if he 
would like to make the acquaintance of the lady he had been notic- 
ing. He replied in the affirmative also, and, of course, both being 
agreed, he invited him over and introduced him to his lady, re- 
marking, that he could finish it out and take her home. Having 
accomplished his object, he left the two flirts and the theater, and 
never spoke to her or called on her afterwards. Served her right ! 
Some flirts carry on this insane business even after they are married, 
and when husband or wife happens to be away, they are off with 



FLIRTATION. 427 

some other man or women for an evening visit or a walk, or to some 
entertainment. This class are frequently found boarding at hotels, 
as it is very convenient for them to see and be seen there without 
any questions being asked. 

When in Salem, Mass., the place where a number of supposed 
witches were put to death, I was impressed with the remarkable 
quietness and inactivity of the city. Everything seemed dead, and 
there was a lack of that enthusiasm which generally marks the cities 
of the West. The only time I saw a ripple of excitement, which 
made things and people appear lively, was on the eve of Decoration 
Day, 1879, when the young people from the factories were let loose. 
Then there was life and fun by the wholesale, for I saw more flirta- 
tion in one night there than I ever witnessed before in any city of 
the Union of any considerable size. One would think that both 
sexes had been separated and shut up for about a year, and were 
just let out, so wild were they in their conduct. Roaming and 
pacing up and down the sidewalks, like hungry lions in search of 
prey, they marched up and clown the streets singly, in pairs, in 
triplets and quadruples, laughing, jesting and flirting with whom- 
soever they could. Young men, whom the girls took a fancy to, 
who didn't come to time and walk up by the side of them quick 
enough, they would punch in the back, or tickle them in the neck 
with a little switch. Being a stranger, I was spotted, and received 
more or less attention, sometimes in anxious and curious looks and 
occasionally some interesting, short, pithy and spicy remarks were 
addressed to me, as only flirts know how to make, such as "Halloa, 
whiskers ! " W r alking on a few yards, another pair of saucy lips 
would shout, "Shoot the hat!" While a third charming creature 
would say "Good evening, New Yorker!" Two young men evi- 
dently thought they could flirt better if they could manage to get 
two of the girls off by themselves, so to accomplish their purpose, 
they were out with horse and buggy, and driving slowly along the 
street they soon got the attention of two young flirts. Finally, 
they drove close up to the pavement, and the girls stopped and en- 
tered into conversation with them. They were coaxing very hard 
to get the girls into the buggy. One of them wanted to go, the 
other did not; then they tried to gently pull them in, and to all 
appearances the girls, or one of them, was about to step in, when 
along came a policeman and spoiled their little game. 



428 FLIRTATION. 

This incident, just mentioned, reminds me of a similar one that 
occurred in Chicago. Two young ladies, pupils of a large Sabbath- 
school, and daughters of a deacon, were out walking one afternoon 
(I think they had been to a matinee, the best place in the world for 
flirting), and had picked up two young men, with whom they were 
getting on the street cars, when an acquaintance of the family, 
seeing what was going on, stepped up and took the young girls 
away, and sent or escorted them home. Flirting is a dangerous 
piece of business for any one, especially for thoughtless young girls 
who do not seem to have the slightest idea where it will end, or 
what it will lead them to. I sometimes think that large factories 
are almost as bad as penitentiaries for the morals of young people; 
they too often become schools of vice, not because labor or the 
articles manufactured tend to make them so, but because of the 
lack of moral restraint, the temptations to which they are exposed, 
and the low wages and rough, unprincipled element with which 
they mingle. 

I presume the worst class of men-flirts are to be found among 
drummers, safe and piano agents, and men of various callings who 
make their repeated rounds from town to town and city to city. 
They manage to have a female acquaintance and correspondent in 
nearly every town they visit. If they do not, it is not their fault, 
for a large number of them are worthless, reckless and dissipated, 
hardly fit to cross the threshold of a respectable family. They flirt 
on the street, in the store, at the railroad depots, in the cars, in the 
hotels, anywhere and everywhere they can find any woman silly 
enough to notice them. They insult about every other woman 
they meet, either by words, actions or lascivious looks, especially 
chambermaids, waiter-girls and women traveling alone or prom- 
enading the streets. I do not assert or believe that all traveling 
men or drummers are of this stamp. Many of them are honorable 
men, business-like in their manners and worthy the confidence of 
the best of people. 

Sometimes men, especially strangers, are wrongfully charged 
with insulting ladies on the street, when the fact is, nobody but a 
rough, drunken or partially-insane man would think of such a thing. 
Some young men, however, will step up to a lady and speak to her, 
wishing to escort her home, if they think she is a flirt; and as there 
are so many women and young girls on the streets of large cities, 




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FLIRTATION. 429 

always on the lookout for beaus, such fellows do not always know 
who is who, until they try them. As a rule, if a young woman will 
act modestly on the street, and walk along without doing anything 
to attract a gentleman's attention, she will not be troubled with the 
uninvited attentions of the opposite sex. But if she smiles at a 
man and turns her head to look after him two or three times, she 
must expect that most men will respond to such invitations, espe- 
cially if a man is anxious to find out who she is, or what she means. 
No lady has any right or business to half recognize a man on the 
street; if she is acquainted w r ith him or wishes to recognize him, 
she should bow, or speak, or both; but if she does not wish to make 
a full recognition, she should take no notice at all, except to glance 
with the eye. 

With regard to myself it often happens, as in the case of a good 
many public men, that there are thousands of ladies in the country 
who know me, but I do not know them; and when they pass me on 
the street and give partial recognition, smiling looks, or make com- 
ments to their companions, or nudge one another as I pass, I cannot 
tell in every case who they are or what they mean; whether I have 
met them or not, or whether they have simply heard me lecture. 
School-girls sometimes will watch me for a whole block, as though 
they had never seen a man before. With many of them it is simply 
girlish curiosity, and I take it as such and pass on; others among 
them are evidently flirts, and if a man takes no notice of them, they 
feel politely repulsed; and if he does and fails to meet their expec- 
tations, or act in a way to please them, they go home or back to 
school and make wild and exaggerated statements about him. Not 
that I have had any serious trouble with school-girls; my relations 
with them have been of the most pleasant nature in every school 
where I have lectured — from Wisconsin in the West to Massachu- 
setts in the East — with one exception. There is no place in the 
world where I deem it necessary to be more particular and careful 
in action and conversation than in colleges, seminaries and high- 
schools. The case to which I have just hinted was caused by my 
meeting, one Sunday morning as I was going to church, a refined, 
virtuous, pleasant-looking young lady, by herself, who had heard 
me lecture a few days previous, and, of course, remembered me, 
though I had not the slightest recollection of her. As she passed 
she almost recognized me, and gave me a pleasant look, accompa- 



430 FLIRTATION. 

nied with a sweet smile. I was a stranger in the city, and not 
acquainted with any ladies, was almost opposite the church and 
therefore not in a locality where one would expect to meet a fast 
woman, and her face was too innocent as I thought to class her 
among such characters. The time of the morning, the location, 
and all the other circumstances, caused her face and conduct to be 
a puzzle to me, for the thought never occurred to me that she was 
a school-girl. Without a moment's hesitation I made up my mind 
to ascertain whether she was a young flirt or some person I had 
met. Turning suddenly around to step up to her, I saw several 
yards intervened between us, and I could not reach her without 
running, as the sidewalk was pretty well filled with people. Then 
I realized the predicament I was in — that unless I was very careful 
it would look like a flirting performance. There was a hotel imme- 
diately opposite, where I was boarding, and men were sitting outside. 
She had turned her head around once or twice, to see if I was com- 
ing I suppose, and this made me feel there was probably a little or 
considerable flirt about her; so I concluded 1 would let her walk on 
a block or two, or until she had turned a corner; for if I had turned 
then and gone into church, people would have begun to think I was 
half crazy. Meanwhile, the girl evidently did not know what to think 
of my actions, and misunderstanding my reason and motives prob- 
ably thought I was infatuated; for when I caught up with her and 
said "Good morning," she seemed confused and annoyed, although 
she acted lady-like, made no objections to my presence, but res- 
ponded to my salutation and called me by name. I asked her how 
she knew my name, and thereupon discovered she was a school-girl. 
As it was only a block or two to the school, I concluded it would 
look much better to escort her to the seminary than leave her on 
the corner of the street, which I accordingly did. 

I had met some of the other school-girls a day or two before, 
and they politely bowed to me, and I remembered them, returned 
the bow and passed on. Others of their number had also passed, 
but took no notice of me except to look with an earnest, steady 
gaze. I also passed them, taking no notice except giving them a 
glance, without either smiling, staring or bowing. I heard nothing 
nor saw nothing more of them till about a week afterwards. The 
lady principal of the school stopped me on the corner of the street 
and commenced to politely abuse me, wanting to know what I was 



FLIRTATION. 43 1 

chasing her girls around the streets for; that my horrid eyes were 
staring at them wherever they went, and that the teachers and all 
the girls in the school who at first were very much pleased and fav- 
orably impressed, now hated me, with much more similar talk. I 
saw she was in no frame of mind to receive an explanation, nor did 
I care to make one on the street corners. She could trust her girls 
on the streets, however, and believe anything they chose to tell 
her, but told me personally, the very day I lectured in her school, 
that although the mothers of her girls had told her she could trust 
them with gentlemen visitors in the parlor, she never allowed them 
to close the parlor doors. " Yes," said she, "I can trust them only 
by watching them." She could not allow them to be in her own 
parlor alone, nor believe their mothers, but, strange to say, she 
could believe anything they said about a stranger, and trust them 
alone on the street. Then, again, she had most likely taught the 
girls everything but how to act on the street, and when and how 
to recognize gentlemen. 

I have no desire to speak harshly or unkindly of school-girls; 
they are mostly young and inexperienced and as full of mischief 
and fun as a lot of young kittens. But I want to say that the ten- 
dency among school-girls to flirt when they get a chance, and to 
see if a stranger will take any notice of them, is pretty strong. I 
remember while at a depot one morning waiting for the train, four 
or five school girls passed along the platform on their way to the 
school where I had lectured the previous day. They laughingly 
made some remarks as they passed me, and when they got to the 
end of the platform spoke to me again and put their fingers to their 
lips and threw kisses at me. I neither did nor said the least thing 
to attract those girls' attention, nor was it necessary for them to go 
through the depot to get to the school; hence I might have gone 
with the same propriety, if I had chosen to take that view of it, to 
the principal of the school and asked him what right his young 
ladies had to speak to me, what they were following me around 
town and trying to kiss me for, or tempting me to kiss them ? If 
those young ladies had passed by quietly with sedate countenances, 
and I had made some remark to them in fun or jest, and then 
thrown kisses at them, it would have been circulated all through 
the school and city in magnified form, and made to appear that I 
had insulted the girls and actually kissed them, or tried to do so. 



432 FLIRTATION. 

On another occasion, when I had called on the president of a Normal 
School about business, in returning from his office I had to pass the 
boarding-house of the young ladies who were preparing themselves 
to be teachers. A group of them were out on the roof of the ve- 
randa, and as I neared the house they began their antics to attract 
my attention, and as I passed they would walk to the edge of the 
roof, peep over, then go back again; in fact, seemed to do every- 
thing they could, without really speaking, to get me to say some- 
thing to them. 

The disposition to flirt is very often, in fact, I may say, gener- 
ally, born in people; and the symptoms of it can be seen in children 
three years old. To illustrate: in a place where I was once board- 
ing, was a little girl about three years of age, and a gentleman in 
the house would occasionally take her on his knee, talk to her and 
kiss her. The first time he kissed her she submitted quietly and 
said nothing. The second time she began to act a little funny, and 
the third time she was still more funny over it, commenced to gig- 
gle and hold her head down and pretend she didn't like it. (And 
from all I can learn, there are quite a number of large girls who 
will act that way, too.) Then her secretiveness, mirthfulness and 
amativeness came into action. She really wanted to be kissed, but 
girl-like, she must make a fuss over it, and so she said to the gen- 
tleman as soon as he had kissed her: ''Shame on you! teaching 
little girls to hug and kiss! I'll tell my big sister on you ! " Now 
what put such ideas and language into that child's head, unless she 
had seen or heard more than she ought to have heard from that big 
sister of hers, and had also inherited a flirting disposition? Show 
me a little girl or boy that acts and talks that way, at that age, and 
I will show you a child who has a flirting nature; though such 
natures may be changed, as they grow up, by proper education. 

It may be somewhat interesting to the reader if I give a sample 
of the average letters written by one girl to another, and though I 
cannot say positively that the author of the following epistle was a 
flirt, I judge by the style of her language she was not far from it. 
She was evidently well posted on the ways of other flirts and was 
much interested in their maneuvers. It also illustrates how freely 
girls tell one another what men say and do to them, and how much 
regard some of them have for parental authority. When a girl 
makes up her mind to have her own way, and go when and where 



FLIRTATION. 433 

she pleases, you may be pretty sure she has got the flirtation com- 
plaint or is desperately in love with somebody her parents do not 
like. If the reader is curious to know where I got this letter, let 
me say I picked it up in the Chicago Exposition, and though the 
cover had been torn and the letter somewhat mutilated, I managed 
to make out the most of it, and as I shall omit all names, it will do 
nobody harm, nor will any person be the wiser as to who wrote 
it or where it came from. 

" Sept. 1879. 

" Dear : Your letter was received a few days ago. Am glad you are enjoy- 
ing yourself so well. Wish I could have a little fun up here, but what is the use of wishing. 
We had something going on yesterday — it was a smash-up, about six miles below here. 
Two freight trains ran together. [What a consolation that there was something to pro- 
duce a little excitement. Girls seem to think everything is fun, unless their fellows happen 
to get killed.] I wanted to go down on the train in the afternoon and see the wreck, but 
father would not let me. Next time I will know enough to go without asking, you bet. 

Tell your mamma we have not any preserves. I do not correspond with Mr. , he is a 

flirt, I can tell you. [She wanted him all to herself; girls like to have two or three beaus, 

but they do not want them to have but one girl.] It is real mean of not to introduce 

you. He tried to kiss me one night at the gate, but he did not come it — I slapped him 
right square in the mouth. [And yet she was anxious that this " gate-kisser" should be 
introduced to the friend she was writing to. She must have thought that anything would 
do for her friend, or else that he was a nice young man, even if he did flirt. It is so char- 
itable to give to others what we do not want ourselves.] What kind of a hat did you say 
you had? I did not understand you. Do they wear a kind of sailor hats in Chicago? 
[Yes, flirts or girls with masculine tendencies do.] I have a black one that turns up all 
around. Tell me all about what you have this fall. There was a nice runner in town the 
other day, and I saw him a number of times on the street, but he did not do anything but 
look. [What a pity!] In the afternoon, as I was coming home, he followed me as far as 
the feed store, and watched me until I got home. [She must have given him some anxious 
looks or he would not have followed her, because he was a nice runner, and he would not 
have done such a thing otherwise.] In the evening, he came over this way, and I hap- 
pened to be at the gate. [Not intentionally, of course; what a wonderful gate that was; 
in fact, many important events of a girl's life seem to happen there. Gates are convenient 

things for flirts, more so than the parlor.] I went to the bridge with , [her young 

brother, I suppose. Brothers and bridges are necessary evils sometimes in flirting with 
nice runners,] and when I was coming back I met him; [all accidental, of course,] he 

said, 'Is this Miss ?' [Nice runners and bummers generally manage to find out a 

young lady's name before they speak, it is much more pleasant to address even strangers 
by their name.] I said, T do not think it is.' [She told a white lie.] I also said, 'Do 
you want to see her? ' and he said, 'O, no,, it was nothing in particular;' so I slipped home 
as fast as I could [after she had just slipped out to see if he would notice her, and have a 

square look at him]. He went over town [broken-hearted, no doubt]. I have seen 

once since you were here, but did not have anything to do with him. He is a horrid old 
thing. [I suppose the trouble with him was that he never tried to kiss her; girls — I mean 
adventurous flirts — like a man to try it occasionally, even if they do not come it, just to show 
their willingness. It is so pleasing to a girl to know that a man want, to kiss her, even 



434 FLIRTATION. 

if she does not allow it.] has been awful sick, not expected to live. She was away 

some place, and they sent for her mother. I cannot imagine what the trouble was, can 

you ? I expect to see [another man, and more to follow,] next month, I am going to 

try and have a conversation with him, too. [Poor girl ! her male acquaintances seem to 

be deserters.] What shall I tell him for you? I have not seen since I wrote you 

about my stopping and talking to him. is as cool as a cucumber, and I expect slie 

will continue to be [unless she gives back the young man she probably robbed her of]. I 

have not had a chance to tell what you wanted me to. [Too bad !] Write soon. 

"From your friend, " " 

Flirt— 

O, for a runner, fresh and nice, 

To meet me when I take a walk, 
And when I pass him twice or thrice 

Will step right up and try to talk. 

Runner — 

O, for a girl that's soft and nice, 

Who, standing at the garden gate, 
With powder' d face, as white as rice. 

In flirting smiles will meet my gaze. 

How friendly and confiding two girls can be, especially flirts, 
when it is to each other's interest to be so, but let a young man 
come along that both want, and you will see two as cool as cucum- 
bers, and they will backbite and tell all the nasty little things they 
can think of about each other. Judging frorri the writing and the 
letter, as a whole, it appears to me that the young lady who wrote 
the above, has had a fair education, probably at the high school, 
but it is a great pity she did not learn to write more sense and less 
nonsense. 

The reader may also be interested in reading and learning what 
an interesting diary a flirt can write. And as I was fortunate 
enough to get a copy of one written by a gushing young flirt, just 
bordering on sweet sixteen, I insert it here as a sample of the weak- 
minded sentimentalism, romantic day-dreaming, unrestrained love 
and nonsense that pervades the heart and mind of an ardent flirt: 

I have seen the hero of my dreams. 

April 6th. — Met a gentleman, and he is coming here to board; wont we have some 
nice times, though? I don't know his name yet, but he is a perfect blonde. I wonder 
what made him look so hard at me; I guess because I had Willie in my arms. 

April 6th. — Nothing of any note has transpired; been house-cleaning; have not seen 
my ideal since. 

April Jth. — Him and his friend have made arrangements to board. I am so glad 
that I can think of nothing but him; those laughing blue eyes haunt me yet. 



FLIRTATION. 435 

April Zth — He comes to-night; I wonder if he will ever care for me as much as I do 
even now for him? I am afraid not. How I wish that I was beautiful or wealthy; T never 
wished for money before in my life, but if I only had it now may be I could win him; but 
no, how I have wronged him; he is too noble to ever marry for money. I used to think 
that there was not a man on earth whom I could ever love, but I have found out very 
different; for here is a strange man, I don't even know his name, and I am in love 
with him; will he ever encourage it? 

April gth. — O, I am so very happy; he was home to dinner to-day, for the first time, 
and staid till three o'clock. I wonder what he thinks of me? I have always said that I 
would never trust a man, but I would trust him with everything on earth. Will he ever 
like me as I do him? 

Nothing has transpired of note; like my new friend more and more. Am going to 
see the parade. Have just known him a little more than a week. I put on his hat before 
dinner; he says there must be a forfeit paid, shall I let him? Yes, why not? I will trust 
him, for he is too honorable to ever tell his wife* anything about it; I say this for I have 
not the slightest hope of ever being able to win him. O for beauty enough to captivate 

him, and I would be happy. What is the day of the month? Mr. , poor man, is to 

be buried; how very sad! I can't help comparing his wife and myself, only a block apart; 
I so happy, her so miserable. Well, if I am going out, I will have to stop and dress 
myself. 

We got back all right; sat in the park ever so long waiting for the procession to 
come. We had some nice lemon pie when we got back; we enjoyed it so much; wonder 
if he thinks it was made expressly for him? We went in the back parlor, on the sofa, 
and h — k — m — s — t — ; O h — s — w — h- — k — t — m — . Does he think any the less of 
me for it? although he is the first man I ever kissed. He must care for me, or he would 
never have done as he did. [There is just where girls make a mistake; when they are in 
love with a man they seem to think he must be with them, which is not always the case. 
The average man will play with a girl's heart as though it was a foot-ball, unless he too 
is in love, then he will act noble and true. And the average man will give and take all 
the kisses he can get without meaning it as any special demonstration of affection to the 
one he kisses.] Would he deceive me? No, he is too honorable. [When a girl is in 
love with a man, especially a silly flirt, she always thinks he is true and honorable, even 
if he should be the biggest flirt and rascal in the country.] 

A week has passed, and I have not touched this; I find no time to write; the house 
is in such an uproar; I never want to move again. When he came to dinner yesterday, I 
was cleaning silver, and did not get to speak to him; but if I get to look at him it satis- 
fies. I laugh at myself sometimes; me, that used to be such an awful flirt, caught at last. 
[Not with the right kind of a hook, though. ] He stays at home so much I wonder if he 
likes my society or if he wants to flirt? But no, he wouldn't flirt with anyone as young 
as I; he is too noble and true-hearted. It is so pleasant to love one, and put perfect trust 
in them. 

I have not picked this up for a month or more, and I am much changed, but how? 
If I loved him first I worship him now. But he says he is going away; how very mis- 
erable I will be till he gets back; how I wish he wouldn't go. He wants my picture to 
take with him (O for beauty, so that he would be proud of it). My wishes are vain; be 
content, he is not engaged; he has pledged his word, and that is enough for me to be 
sure that he is not. But whenever I think of his going away my heart gets so heavy 
that it nearly kills me. What would I do if he was to come back engaged? But I must 
stop thinking that way, for he has not been home so long he must want to see mother and 



43^ FLIRTATION. 

sisters, so I should be glad that he can go; but reason as I will, I can't be glad, I am 
so selfish; 1 never was so before, because I never loved before. O! I am so happy; he 
has said that he is afraid he cannot go; if he could wait till next summer how nice 
it would be. 

I have been so busy that a week has gone by without my making any note of it, and 
last night he told me he was going home — he must go. Well, I will trust him, but it will 
be hard to do without him; he is our ray of sunshine. The house will be very dull with- 
out him, but we will have to stand it for one month; how fearfully long. 

To-day he goes; he will not go to work to-day, he has promised to be home at three 
o'clock. He has gone; my head aches and I am nearly sick from it; he told me to be of 
good cheer, he would write soon. 

He has been gone a week and not a line; what is the matter with him, has he for- 
gotten me so soon as this? I cannot bear to think that, but how do I know he will not 
forget me? O! darling one, if you but knew what I think of you there would be no 
more need of words for either. [No, they would just unite and melt and simmer down 
into one condensed sugar-plum.] I am so miserable; how soon happiness can be turned 
to misery. Only one week ago to-day I was the happiest creature alive; excepting for 
the pang of parting I could not have been happier. Am not going to pick this up 
while he is gone, for my thoughts are too miserable for me to write. Suppose he should 
come home engaged and should not tell me, and I should keep on loving him, and should 
even let him see this; no, that would never do. 

August 3c/. — Have been true to my word; have not looked in this for three weeks. He 
got home to-night; we were rehearsing our opera, [flirts generally have a natural love for 
operas and theaters, but never for a prayer-meeting] but that made no difference; I rushed 
in the hall before I knew it, and had to go up stairs to see him; he kissed me at his door; 
how happy! but there seems to be some restraint on him; what can it be? May be he will 
say to-morrow what it is. I so dread it. 

He has been home two weeks to-night, and what a difference. I wish I was dead, for 
I am too miserable to live. We went out walking last night, and he told me that he was 
engaged. Am I dreaming, or is it stern reality?. My first love-dream to end so miser- 
ably! Does he love the girl he is engaged to? No; I have heard that he loves her 
because she has money, but my idol could not stoop to such a thing, he whom I think 
is the noblest man on earth. Mamma and auntie try to make me think he is not worth 
one of my tears [the old folks were probably about right, for if he had been such a noble 
man as her love — imagination — pictured him, she never would have fallen in love with 
him. Like loves like] but I cannot. I have been sick all day; it will be weeks before I 
fully recover. O! my darling, my idol! to find you only clay, is killing me day by day. 
[She survived, however, for I saw her. She was a sort of strawberry-blonde; in other 
words, slightly on the sandy hair color, with florid face. A genuine blonde is of too 
cold a nature to be so yearning and impulsive in love affairs.] 

I cannot bear to see this now where all my joys have been written. He offers me now 
a brother's love, and I have lo give him a sister's love; but such is life. I cannot under- 
stand myself; me who was always, so proud, cold, and indifferent to gentlemen who loved 
me, can I not summon up pride enough to make him think I love another; but no, I can- 
not, that would be acting deceitful, and I hate deceit above all things on earth. [There 
is where she is mistaken again, and does not know her own heart; for a flirt is a bundle 
of deceit; no girl can be a good flirt without being deceitful.] I am not ashamed that I 
love him, I am rather proud of it. I would rather have his friendship than the love of 
every other man on earth. It makes my heart ache to sit here writing; I once thought 



FLIRTATION. 437 

I would never write anything in here but my joys, but if I did that the rest of the book 
would be blank, for I never expect to have another joy on earth. I had laid off grand 
times for my sixteenth birthday, but my hopes are dashed to the ground. Such is life. 
Will I ever open this again? may be not, and yet I may; but it is so hard to write about 
one you love that belongs to another. If I never open it, why I will say Good-by. 

October. — Two months have passed, and not a line in this; I love him more than ever. 
O, how I wish that I could break off that love, it is killing me — this trying to keep a 
cheerful face when one feels so fearfully miserable; but no one suspects but what I am as 
happy as ever. How can I look so well when, every night of my life, I cry one half of 
the night? I must stop this, it kills me to write. [That is generally the way with sweet 
sixteen flirts, they laugh one-half the time and cry the other half.] 

O darling, may you and your chosen one ever be as happy as I am miserable. Him 
and his friend must part, and I am afraid he will get married. Well, it has got .to come; 
it might as well be now as later. It is terrible to think of his engagement, but it nearly 
kills me to think of his marriage. My only love! may God be very merciful to you and 
yours, is always my prayer. 

To-day I have been looking over this, and it looks so foolish for me to write such things, 
but no one knows. [When ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise; at least so says the world. ] 

Flirts will not only lie and deceive, but they will sometimes go 
so far as to steal when placed in positions of trust. Not all of them 
will do this, but a certain class will. They all steal hearts, and a 
part of them will take anything they can lay hands on. Sharp 
tricks and dishonorable conduct seems like second nature to them. 
Like the young ladies of a certain seminary, who were out walking 
one afternoon, as was their custom, with one of the teachers or 
professors leading the beautiful procession. As they passed by a 
grocery store they saw a basket of apples on the sidewalk, to which 
they all helped themselves, leaving an empty basket, without any 
money to pay for them. I would not say that every one of those 
girls were flirts, but 1 do say that every one that took an apple did 
a small, dishonest trick. It was just such an act and just such mis- 
chief as you may look for among flirts. There are also cases where 
flirts (I mean men as well as women) will help themselves to their 
employer's money or goods. 

Another evil arising from flirtation is that it develops a charac- 
ter that is peculiarly fickle and inconsistent. It makes one too 
changeable, unreliable and notional. In fact, it entirely counteracts 
every influence which tends to mold a perfect and lovable charac- 
ter. The soul cannot revel in unnatural and unsatisfied desires, 
which it is nevertheless longing to have gratified, without recoiling 
and shrinking back upon itself. Flirts are constantly craving for 
pleasures of an amative nature; they are seldom if ever satisfied. 



43§ FLIRTATION. 

Hence, there is a hankering, an abnormal condition of mind, a per- 
verted taste and a gnawing appetite, similar to that of a dyspeptic's 
stomach. The more they have the more they want, and the more 
they get the less are they satisfied. Things of genuine merit, 
objects of great importance, do not interest them, for their fettered 
imagination cannot soar so high. Their attention is attracted only 
by that which is sentimental, vain, silly and disgusting to anyone 
possessing a fair amount of common sense and sound judgment. 

Flirts dislike work, especially if it requires continued application. 
Said one girl in a letter to another: "P.S. — I have finished all but 
two of papa's shirts, then I shall look out for a man that does not 
wear shirts," and exclaims, "a kingdom, a kingdom for a man with- 
out a shirt." But, then, it is hardly to be expected that a girl of that 
stamp could do anything else but flirt. One business is enough for 
a smart man to attend to, and how can it be expected that a brain- 
less flirt would attend to work or business and flirting too. 

Nowhere are the short-comings and fickle-mindedness of flirts 
more apparent than in business affairs. Employers can place no 
reliance on them. They are a worthless class even in the ordinary 
position of attending a reception room or as saleslady. Perhaps 
the place such women could fill to the best advantage would be 
behind a cigar-stand, because there they could flirt to their heart's 
content and have all the variety they could desire. They would 
have new subjects to operate upon every few minutes. But sup- 
pose such persons do, by tact, secure good and respectable places 
(for they are sharp enough, or, at least, manage to use their wits 
long enough to do that sometimes), their employer would find it 
exceedingly difficult, yea, impossible, in eight cases out of ten, to 
get them to apply their minds and energies to the interest of the 
business, or to use the same amount of shrewdness for the benefit 
of their employer, that they would to secure a new victim, unless 
the person employing them gets up a flirtation with them himself; 
then they would set the world on fire to accomplish a purpose, and 
things would go as merrily as the chimes of a marriage bell. But 
let him act toward them and treat them in a strictly business way, 
and their indifference and want of interest are at once apparent. 
They cannot or will not endure the correction of a fault, or in any 
way be rebuked; nor will some of them even permit, with a good 
grace, their employers to tell them how to do their work, that is, if 



FLIRTATION. 43Q 

he does it in a firm, decided tone. They may condescend to toler- 
ate it if he does it in a sweet, gentle and half-coaxing way, as if he 
was asking them to do a favor; but to be commanded with author- 
ity, seems abhorrent to their nature. Poor things! they want 
nothing but smiles, kind, or rather soft, honeyed words and winning 
looks; and they are filled with surprise and indignation to think 
that their employers can have the audacity to speak to them or use 
them in any other way than as equals or superiors. Such persons 
have no definite idea of what life is, or ought to be, and when stern 
realities meet them they are unprepared to grapple with them. 
They are, in many respects, just like babies in their disposition, ano 
desire to be petted and used in a similar way; but are unlike babies 
as far as submission and innocence are concerned. They are over- 
grown and spoiled children, and they can cry *and make just as 
much fuss when they cannot have their own way, or have what they 
want, as any child can. 

Young men are just as bad, only in a different way. They be- 
come (if they are not naturally so) regular sap-heads, and the thing 
they are smartest at, and seem to succeed in most, is making the 
acquaintance of young girls. I have seen full grown, mature men 
talking in a very loving manner, and getting up a flirtation with 
girls from twelve to fourteen years of age. I know of an old man, 
sixty or seventy years of age, who visits the Chicago Exposition 
every fall to talk and flirt with young ladies at the stands, and he 
is as persistent in his efforts as any young man. Such actions are 
beneath the dignity of a man ! They buy presents and bestow 
many little favors and tokens of regard upon girls; will talk by the 
hour to them; will tax their ingenuity, if they have any, and exer- 
cise their deficient, inferior brains to the utmost, in order to interest 
and make a favorable impression upon the minds and hearts of 
girls who are silly enough to talk back with them. Is it not high 
time that parents trained up their children to entertain a higher 
and better appreciation of themselves? To have them use their 
intellectual faculties and think more, that they may see what the 
grand object of life is, and realize that it consists in something more 
than the indulgence of amative thoughts and the gratification of 
amative desires ? Intelligent, thinking minds do not resort to 
flirtation. They have other and better means of entertaining and 
interesting themselves. It is chiefly common, inferior, uneducated 



44-0 FLIRTATION. 

minds that resort to such actions, because, being unable to amuse 
or content themselves, they depend upon others to do it for them. 
Hence, the natural taste of such persons for all kinds of amusement, 
but for nothing of a serious or intellectual nature. Not that proper 
amusement is wrong, but that flirts have little mind for anything 
else. The conversation of flirts never rises above the common 
chit-chat of household affairs or incidents of every-day life; and if 
you were to listen to the conversation of two flirts for an hour, I 
venture to assert, you would not hear an idea advanced or suggested 
of any practical importance. It would be simply nonsense from be- 
ginning to end. To counteract flirtation, then, with all its attendant 
evils, let the intellect be educated in a practical, common-sense 
manner, and let parents strive to imbue their sons and daughters 
with a spirit of noble ambition to accomplish some purpose or 
object in life. Then they will aim for something higher than child- 
ish talk and mere amative pleasures. Nor will common school 
education do this; it requires personal labor and direct special 
training on this point. Just so long as parents leave this special, 
practical and parental work to public schools and Sunday-school 
teachers, they must expect a large proportion of the young people 
to engage in flirtation. Neither the Sunday-school nor a public 
school was organized to teach young people what is the special 
work of parents, viz.: how to develop themselves into perfect or 
complete men and women. Schools simply impart secular and 
religious education, but the manner or way in which they make 
use of knowledge thus acquired, is another form of education which 
parents ought to attend to personally. It is this education of edu- 
cation that is so badly neglected in the rising generation, and all 
because parents were themselves neglected in early life, and are 
therefore deficient in this respect. Parents who were once flirts 
are very apt to let their children do the same; and so the thing 
goes on and will until a movement is made to educate children, and 
parents also, in a more practical and scientific way. 

The great difficulty is, that the education of the present day is 
too superficial and fashionable. That which teaches them concern- 
ing the laws of mind and body seems to be ignored; hence, parents, 
as well as children, are ignorant concerning the very things they 
ought to be best informed upon and most familiar with. People 
know what they like, what they desire, and what. they do not, and 



FLIRTATION. 441 

how much they differ from others in these respects; but the reason 
of their likes and dislikes, preferences and differences, they seldom 
study into or investigate. For instance : here are two children of 
the same family, both fond of play; the one will leave her play at 
the first call of either parent, but the other will keep on playing as 
long as it can, and have to be almost whipped away from it. But 
neither the children nor the parents know why this difference exists. 
How, then, can parents train their children aright, when they do not 
understand the laws of mind that cause these marked differences 
in children? And how can they save them from the various forms 
of sexual dissipation, where they do not understand the mental and 
physical laws governing the sexual organs? The solution of the 
great problem of life, as well as the future greatness and glory of 
the American people, lies in a correct knowledge of the laws that 
govern mind and body; or, to put it in a more simple phrase, in 
understanding ourselves mentally and physically. Let knowledge 
increase and crime will proportionately diminish. To teach men 
what they are and how to control themselves, will do more to close 
the penitentiaries and empty the jails than all the laws that have 
ever been enacted, or all the police forces in the country could 
ever hope to do. Prevention is better than cure. 

• 

If pretty flirts you wish to cure, 
' And save them from a life that's fast, 
Just make them work and look demu e: 
The toil and care will drown the past. 

If thoughtless flirts you wish to cure, 

And save them all from worthless lives, 
Improve their minds, and then be sure 

To teach them how to make good wives. 

If pious flirts you wish to cure, 

Just put them in the elders' pew; 
Long-fac'd deacons they can't endure, 

And their number will soon be few. 

If roguish flirts you wish to cure 

From running on the streets at night, 
Keep them at home till you are sure 

They can go out and act all right. 

If wicked flirts you wish to cure, 

Who play with hearts, as cats with mice, 

Tell them how many, once fair and pure, 
Forsaken, die like poor church mice. 



SHAM MODESTY. 



What it is — Its Cause — What Young People Do and Read — How it Ruins Young People 
— Ignorance — Art Galleries — Civilization — Two Girls in the Washington, D. C, 
Art Gallery — Dress and Prostitution — Fancy Pictures — Statuary — What Regulates 
Taste — Where Immodesty Exists — Arts of Women — What Excites Amativeness — 
Sentimental Sham Modesty — A Lecturer's Observations — A Kind of Sham Modesty 
Peculiar to Ministers — How the Public are Affected by it — Mock Modesty with 
Church Members — How it Prevents the Truth Being Spoken — False Modesty the 
Mother of Ignorance — The Cure for Sham Modesty — Sham Modesty in the Use of 
Words and Expressions —Personal Experiences — False Modesty in Society — Sham 
Modesty in its Relation to Kissing — Who and How to Kiss and Who Not— Kissing 
Among Women — Kissing Games at Picnics — What the Schools do not Teach. 



MODESTY is one of the most charming" virtues in female charac- 
ter, but sham or assumed modesty is one of the most disgusting 
things in human nature, and yet the world is full of it. It has 
become so common in all ranks of society that it is sometimes 
difficult to determine the genuine from the imitation. It is caused 
through the perverted action of some of the sentimental faculties 
and animal propensities, such as secretiveness, amativeness, appro- 
bativeness, agreeableness and ideality. It is a kind of policy used 
to impress people with a false idea of the motives of the mind and 
desires of the heart. It is a sort of whitewash some people make 
use of to conceal the corrupt and blackened character within — a 
lie to spread over the countenance, coloring the language used, and 
varnishing the actions. It is a name without existence, a thing 
which seems to be, but is not. It cannot endure temptation or trial, 
and must not be subjected to any severe test. Sham modesty is 
easily shocked, because it is often the outgrowth of ignorance. It 
makes a mountain out of a mole hill, and is very sensitive to criti- 
cism, and whoever shakes hands with it must have gloves on. It 
will never come in bare contact with the naked truth; it has no 
affinity for such a thing. It recoils at first sight, and like a tortoise, 
hides itself in its shell. 



SHAM MODESTY. 443 

Sham modesty arises principally from a perverted use of appro- 
bativeness and amativeness. Sometimes it is caused through a 
want of education on certain things, and sometimes it is acquired 
or assumed through the example and influence of others. There is 
also a large amount of shame-facedness which is akin to sham mod- 
esty, caused through the private sin of self-abuse. Such persons 
are generally afraid or opposed to having their heads examined, 
especially young people with the organs of approbativeness and 
cautiousness large. People are not shocked nor do they blush and 
wonder at things they often see and become familiar with. Re- 
peated observation and study dispel surprise from the mind. Hence 
I regard ignorance or want of education of certain faculties and 
natures on certain subjects as the general cause of all species of 
mock modesty. 

When conversing with a clergyman on one occasion in reference 
to this subject, and the dangers to which youth are exposed from 
the evil habit to which I have just alluded, he told me that he bought 
his son a medical book and told him to read and study it that he 
might understand his own body from head to foot, and thereby 
keep himself from falling into a snare as so many thousands of boys 
and girls were constantly doing. One day the daughter of one of 
his deacons came to his house on a visit, and saw his son with this 
book. She went home and told her father that the pastor's son had 
a bad book; that she had seen him reading it, and probably saw 
some of the illustrations. The righteous but over-modest soul of 
the deacon was aroused, and he waxed warm. He went to his 
pastor's house and told him he thought it was his duty to let him 
know that his son was in the habit of reading vile books. "Well, 
now," said the minister, "I do not believe it. I know my boy too 
well, and am sure he would not read such a book, and certainly not 
without my knowledge." " But," said the deacon, emphatically, "he 
has been seen with such a book." "Well, who is your authority ?" 
asked the preacher, to which the deacon did not care to reply. So 
walking over to his library he took down the medical work in ques- 
tion, and handing it to the deacon, said, "There, I suppose that is 
the book my son was seen reading." "Do not know, perhaps it is," 
said the deacon. Then a long discussion ensued between pastor and 
deacon as to the propriety of letting young people read such works, 
and after an hour's conversation on the subject, the deacon went 



444 SHAM MODESTY. 

home converted in his views and convinced that the pastor was 
right. 

There is a large proportion of young people who will read the 
most exciting love stories they can get, and will think about such 
things day and night, until their imagination runs wild, and they 
show their amorous thoughts in their very looks; but think it silly 
to talk about love affairs, and they would blush behind their ears, 
or try to do it, if they heard a little plain talk of a sexual nature. 
Now, if these parties would only talk more and read less, it would 
have a wholesome effect upon their minds, and they would be better 
informed on these subjects, and would not make such fools of 
themselves. Sexual sham modesty springs either from downright 
ignorance on such matters, or else from self-abuse, or both. 

Sham modesty has ruined many a bright young man and woman, 
because their parents were too nice and particular about many things 
to teach them in early life what it was absolutely necessary for them 
to know. On the other hand, this kind of feeling keeps young 
persons from conversing freely on some matters, which in many 
instances, causes them much physical injury and inconvenience. I 
remember hearing of a young woman who lost her life through ig- 
norance of physiological laws, because her stupid mother had never 
instructed her. And I fear there are some mothers who do not 
know as much as their daughters. They probably learned more 
about flirting in their younger days than they did about their bodies 
or their offspring. Yes, there are plenty of women calling them- 
selves mothers who are as green as unripe pumpkins. Thus, sham 
modesty erects a partition between parents and children, and cuts 
off communication on the most important subjects connected with 
their happiness and prosperity on earth, and it may be hereafter. 
The amount of ignorance that prevails in reference to the organism 
of the body is almost incredible. Three or four women had assem- 
bled rather early one evening, for the weekly prayer meeting, and 
were sitting around the stove, talking about their pastor's sickness. 
One of them asked what was the matter with him, when another 
answered by saying she did not know, but thought he had a spine 
in his back. A Christian mother told me she knew of a young 
married couple who were in great anxiety and distress of mind a 
few months after they were married, because they both thought the 
young mother would have to be dissected to give birth to her child. 



SHAM MODESTY. 445 

I claim that a couple so ignorant of their bodies as that, are not fit to 
be parents or even to marry. Young people ought to be thoroughly 
informed on all such subjects before taking the vows of marriage 
upon themselves. How can they protect and bring healthy off- 
spring into the world when more ignorant on such subjects than 
the wild animals that inhabit the jungles of India? 

Sham or false modesty, which arises from ignorance, is most 
apparent in regard to works of art. People who have no taste for 
that which is beautiful and perfect in form, do not study or interest 
themselves in art; hence, statuary, or any picture representing the 
female form, excites in them no admiration, but rather disgust, or 
licentious thoughts. They view such things simply from an animal 
standpoint, and the more corrupt their own moral nature, the more 
wicked their thoughts. Any person having large ideality, form, 
amativeness and human nature, cannot help admiring a beautiful 
figure, while those deficient in two or more of the above faculties, 
fail to see anything lovely in the human form; in fact, it is objec- 
tionable to them. Such persons should study art and visit art 
galleries. If people were more familiar with chaste paintings of 
the human form and with statuary, there would not be such a mor- 
bid, crazy, sly desire to see a living person in that condition, at 
times and under circumstances which are forbidden. And if they 
should chance to see a nude person, they would not be so easily 
shocked and excited over it. 

There is no better sign or proof of civilization in a nation than 
the cultivation and appreciation of the arts and sciences. Those 
men and women who cannot look upon a beautiful, chaste and 
gracefully-posed picture of the human figure, without feeling 
shocked, should censure themselves, and not the picture. A sense 
of shame and sin go together; therefore, let those who feel ashamed 
when looking upon works of art, purify their amative nature — then 
they will see nothing objectionable. Adam and Eve were not 
ashamed till they sinned. Sin brought shame, and shame was the 
cause of dressing, which commenced with fig-leaves, covering only 
the middle part of the body. While visiting the art gallery in 
Washington City, I noticed two girls looking at the statue of a 
male figure. Their eyes hardly caught sight of it before they began 
to nudge one another and whisper and giggle, as though there was 
something awful funny about it. They had impure minds and 



446 SHAM MODESTY. 

thoughts, caused by a low, organic, irreligious nature, with a mix- 
ture of mirthfulness, amativeness and cunning. In like manner I 
observed three women in the art gallery of the Chicago Exposition, 
who were curiously scanning a beautiful oil painting of a female 
figure, and were pointing, whispering and tittering to each other, 
till some men came along, when their attention and position was 
suddenly turned toward some other picture, as though they were 
looking at or doing something they were ashamed of. Nowadays, 
people glory in extravagant dressing; hence, they glory in their 
shame. Our first parents wanted no dressing till they prostituted 
themselves. Dressing commenced with prostitution, and prostitu- 
tion and dress generally go together. That is, many persons will 
prostitute themselves in order to dress well, so that, after all, the 
necessity of having to dress, is no sign of purity nor credit to 
humanity. Let persons of false modesty therefore remember that 
if it had not been for sin, there would have been no necessity for 
dress — that is, as long as Eden existed. 

God never made anything impure or immodest. Immodesty 
exists in the mind, not the body. All human sin originates in the 
.soul or heart; the body simply shows the effect of it. But there 
are thousands of persons who object to see a lady expose her neck 
and shoulders in a low-necked dress. Such persons manifest one 
or more of three things: either ignorance, pretense, or lack of taste 
and amativeness. And they seem to think that women who so 
dress, are a little off the track, morally. Hence, persons who are 
not virtuous, are frequently the strongest opposers to low-neck 
dressing, in order to make believe and throw off suspicion from 
themselves. Some object to this style of dressing through jealousy. 
Having poor figures themselves, they think they cannot dress in 
that way, and so dislike to see others; just the same as one woman 
will envy another who surpasses her in dressing. There are men, 
even ministers, who w T ill wear a black vest, buttoned close up to the 
throat, so as not to show a particle of the shirt-front, who are op- 
posed to the showing of the female form, but would be as delighted 
and interested as any one, to secretly look at the face and figure of 
a beautiful woman. 

Women who dress in black, especially half-mourning, and strong- 
ly object to exposing their form, by way of low-necked dresses, are 
often more to be suspected than those who dress just the opposite. 



SHAM MODESTY. 447 

There are plenty of men and women who will turn up their 
noses at art representations of the human form, whose private 
character would not bear close inspection. They would not have 
a picture of themselves, exposing their bust, for anything. Why, 
what would their mothers and friends say if they had such a pic- 
ture? But, strange to say, they will do things ten times worse, and 
their father and mother are left out of consideration, and know 
nothing about it, unless they chance to get into trouble. 

There is a class of persons who object to pictures in low-necked 
dresses, but admire statuary showing the whole figure nude. Now, 
what is the moral difference, as far as the pictures and what they 
represent are concerned, whether they are taken from life or from 
statuary? because every sculptor gets his models from life in the 
first place, and perhaps selects from fifty to a hundred women 
before he can form his ideal statue. Taking a leg from one, an 
arm from another, a bust from the third, a hand or foot from the 
fourth, and parts of the features from others, and so on — no one 
woman being perfect in all parts of the body. One of the greatest 
works of antiquity, "The Birth of Venus," was taken from Phryne 
of Thespia, in Baeotia, then a courtesan of Athens. Apelles and 
Praxiteles were both upon the seashore, and saw her splendid form 
coming out of the water. 

It is evident that the real objection with people is not against 
exposing the human form at all, but rather against the individual 
who does it. They do not object to statuary, because it is not sup- 
posed to be a likeness of any person; whereas, if a woman was to 
be a subject for such a thing, this feeling of sham modesty in per- 
sons, combined with suspicions and a lack of charity, would at once 
consider her a prostitute, when she might be as innocent as a child; 
for virtuous women frequently become models for artists. 

Fashion and habit have much to do in regulating a person's taste 
and ideas about these things. It is so customary for women to 
cover their persons from head to foot, that when one does step out 
of the ordinary mode of dressing, and show either the breast or a 
limb, it creates surprise and excites curiosity; whereas, if it was the 
custom to dress that way all the time, no notice would be taken. 
Is there, or can there be, any more licentiousness among the sav- 
ages, who have little or no clothing on them, than there is among 
civilized nations, with all their dressing and apparent morality? I 



448 SHAM MODESTY. 

venture to assert, that the fascinating" styles of dressing have done 
more to excite men's amative nature, than all the fancy and nude 
pictures could ever do; because a nude figure is complete in itself, 
and leaves nothing for the imagination to work upon; whereas, a 
picture or person partially draped or exposed, tends only to excite 
the imagination and create a desire to see more. Though, of 
course, I am not advocating that people should go improperly 
dressed, but merely seeking to show that the artful, sudden and 
momentary exposure of the limbs or bosom tends to excite the 
passions more than the nude figure would, or the permanent ex- 
posure of any part of the body. Women understand this, and 
dress and act accordingly. Why all this padding, stuffing and 
trimming of dresses, if not to add to the charms of the wearer, and 
give the appearance of a good figure, which the wearers would 
never be without? Why wear long skirts on the streets if not to 
be compelled to raise them and attract the attention of passers-by 
to a pair of pretty ankles or limbs, made more exciting by the 
white and embroidered under-clothing? The bare figure would 
never excite the passions as these devices of women do. Go out 
any day upon the principal streets of the city when they are 
muddy, and you will see plenty of men on the corners, who make 
a business of watching ladies passing over the crossings; and yet 
the forms of many of them are not much better than a broom- 
handle. I heard of a man who used to take the hose and water 
the sidewalk in front of his store every morning, so as to make the 
ladies raise their dresses. Some women are either not particular 
or else are not conscious how high they do raise their dresses; and 
whenever you meet a woman who makes it convenient to cross her 
legs, and make a liberal display of one or both of them, at the 
moment she knows you are about to enter the room (if you are a 
gentleman), you may conclude she is fast, or far from being as 
modest and virtuous as she ought to be. The female form, there- 
fore, partially exposed in rich, embroidered drapery, is far more 
exciting and tempting than the nude figure. 

But, as I have stated, I am not advocating immodesty in dress, 
but wish to confute the idea of evil attending the exhibition of the 
human figure in a modest position. And I wish persons of false 
modesty, especially those connected with churches, to remember 
they need to exercise genuine modesty in regard to dressing, as 



SHAM MODESTY. 449 

well as their persons; and that the passion for extravagant dressing 
has ruined men and women by the thousand. Such persons are 
very modest about some things, but not modest enough in their 
demands to live within their means, particularly in high life. 

But not only does the modern and fashionable style of dressing 
excite the amativeness of men, but also their imagination. The 
summer mode of dressing — in low waist, covered with black or 
white gauze — is adopted by many who would be too modest to 
expose the bare shoulders, and yet the gauze style draws mostly on 
the imaginations of men. I am not criticising or finding any fault 
with the styles or quality of dressing, but rather the disposition and 
feeling people manifest in their choice of dressing. There seems 
to be such a strong desire in human nature to cover up and conceal 
the motives. If a thing can be done secretly, and on the sly, so 
that no one will know or suspect the intentions, it is all right. 
Principle, and the right or wrong of a thing, the good or evil of it, 
after all, do not enter into the consideration. It is: What will 
people say or think about such a thing? This is what I call sham 
modesty; because such people are governed and influenced more 
by human opinion than they are by God and principle. They lack 
independence of mind, and are slaves to what others think and say. 
The fact that physiology was never taught more in the past, is 
partly attributable to false modesty. Why, a lady teacher in a 
public school was discharged not long ago, for lecturing the girls 
about tight lacing and its evil effects; and while lecturing, myself, 
in a young ladies' seminary in Washington, I noticed the young 
women became very uneasy, and the principal was also anxious to 
have me get through as soon as possible, when I alluded to the 
same injurious effects of tight lacing. Truth and criticism were not 
a palatable thing to those fashionable, party-going young ladies. 
But I noticed, as soon as I changed the subject of my remarks, both 
teacher and scholars were contented to listen as long as I wanted 
to talk. And if there is any branch of education in the world that 
people need to understand, it is a knowledge of their own physical 
organization. But society is so refined and polished nowadays, that 
young people would feel themselves defiled to even mention the 
names of some of the physiological organs. Then, again, the study 
of physiology would be dry, and not half so interesting as a nice 
novel, that will excite their imagination until they perhaps abuse 



450 SHAM MODESTY. 

themselves, and fall into habits the physiological effects of which 
they know nothing about. 

The cure for sham modesty lies in educating people in the arts 
and sciences. To study the laws of their own being is to acquire 
higher and nobler conceptions of their own nature and destiny. It 
will dispel the idea so common in ignorant minds, that their bodies 
are mere machines, and their physiological organs simply instru- 
ments for sexual pleasure. If young people were as familiar with 
physiology as they are with pianos and the fashions, there would 
be less false modesty. And if they studied art more, and visited 
picture galleries oftener, they would not be shocked at statuary. 
Let such persons who are in the habit of blushing at trifles, learn 
rather to feel ashamed of their evil thoughts and besetting sins, for 
they have certainly more need to blush at the pictures painted by 
their own imagination, than at those executed by the cultivated 
skill of an artist. 

There are prominent publishing houses which would not print 
a book that in plain, unvarnished language, exposed the evils of 
society, and the underlying motives of human character. But 
these same firms will fill their stores and flood the whole country 
with miserable, trashy, sentimental literature, that instills into the 
minds of people, especially the young, artful and cunning ideas of 
refined wickedness; books that prematurely excite the imagination, 
kindle the love passions, and fill the mind with rosy and over- 
drawn pictures of life. May the Lord have mercy on those men 
who use their brains and money chiefly to picture to the world 
only the light, funny and frivolous side of human life! 

Occasionally a sham-modest woman opens a school for fashion- 
able young ladies, and takes great pains to teach them all that 
pertains to their sphere of life, but would vigorously oppose the 
introduction of a book that would open their eyes to what the 
world is, what they are themselves by nature, and what they are 
not by grace. In other words, a book that would give them a little 
plain common-sense advice, which unfortunately those sham-modest 
school-ma'ams never learned themselves, and partially for that rea- 
son object to it. I have met just such women in my travels, and 
particularly one who had a fashionable school in a partially eastern 
and southern city. I lectured before her school, and three or four 
of her young ladies ordered a copy of my book (the first and smaller 



SHAM MODESTY. 45 I 

edition of this work), while the principal took the only copy I had 
with me herself. I saw, or at least thought, she was one of the 
sham-modest kind, and requested her to read the book through 
from the beginning, and not take isolated paragraphs, which such 
people are most sure to do. She did just the opposite, however; 
glanced over the chapters she had evidently prejudged in her mind 
to be improper for her dear, sweet, innocent girls to read, and sent 
the girls' books back with a note, saying she was glad she had 
looked at the book before the young ladies got theirs; that she 
should never have forgiven herself if they had read those books; 
putting ideas and information into their minds concerning things 
which might exist, but, old as she was, she had never heard of. 
When I related this incident to two other prominent educators, 
one a lady, the other a gentleman (the latter having a national 
reputation), and who had read my book, they were surprised, and 
laughed at the absurdity and ignorance of that fashionable school- 
mistress. As to the pure-mindedness and innocence of her pupils, 
which she claimed would be a sin to disturb or corrupt with the 
information on certain subjects my book contained, and the kind of 
training she was giving her girls by neglecting to talk to them on 
the ver}^ subjects which they most needed to know, I leave the 
reader to imagine, while I relate some of her girls' performances, 
which she, being so modest or indifferent, or confiding as to their 
natural and inherited goodness, was unaware of. Just before leaving 
the city, I was asked by a lady to examine the head of her daugh- 
ter, a young lady about fifteen years of age. She said she thought 
of sending her to some seminary but hardly knew where; and then, 
without any suggestions on my part, alluded to the school I have 
been speaking of, saying she would not send her there, for that was 
a sort of fashionable and flirting school, where young men met 
some of the girls as they came out of school and escorted them 
home; and that one day, as she was passing along the street, she 
happened to look up at the windows, and saw two of those girls 
with their heads outside, throwing kisses to some gentlemen on 
the street. Of course, it would be a great pity to corrupt the 
pure minds of such flirts as they were, by letting them read a book 
that would give them a little wholesome advice. That was one 
of the leading schools in a city of over three hundred thousand 
inhabitant-. 



452 SHAM MODESTY. 

A gentleman of high culture and refinement, connected with 
educational work in the same city, who bought and read my work, 
expressed himself one day, as I met him on the street, as highly 
pleased with it; stating he had been reading it with much interest 
to his family. In another city, a clergyman, who was a graduate of 
Harvard College, expressed himself in a similar way. I merely 
mention these individuals just referred to, in order to prove to the 
reader, if possible, that what this seminary lady turned up her nose 
at in my book, was simply plain, practical, common-sense truth, 
which wounded her mock-modesty. 

I remember meeting another of those over-modest, fastidious, 
delicate, half-educated seminary principals, in Massachusetts, who 
went so far as to tell me she did not think young ladies shouid 
know anything about physiognomy; it was not a proper thing for 
them to know. I presume the fact of the matter was, she knew 
nothing about physiognomy herself, and, therefore, had just as 
absurd ideas about it as some men I have met in places where I 
have given public lectures, who would stop me on the street, or in 
a store, and quietly ask me if my lecture on physiognomy was a fit 
place to take a lady to. 

When I think of these things I do not wonder at the bold re- 
mark the principal of a high-school once made to me, when he said 
that young ladies' boarding-schools were cesspools of iniquity. 
While I should not put it quite so strong as that, yet I do believe 
that the starting point to a life of worthlessness, ruin or ill-health, 
is often begun in such institutions, because girls are not taught 
physiology as it sJiould be, nor taught the nature of their own 
organism. The result is, that through the reading of exciting 
novels, they fall into habits of self-indulgence and abuse. In one 
seminary where I lectured, a girl had found her way to the lunatic 
asylum through lying in bed until two and three o'clock in the 
morning reading novels. The principal had upbraided her several 
times for not having her lessons, but she grew worse and worse 
until her father was finally sent for to take her home ; and from there 
she went to the insane asylum. In another school where I lectured, 
a young woman had been coaxed away by a young man, taken to 
another city, seduced, and left in a house of prostitution. Oh! 
these seminary young ladies are all innocent, pure-minded girls, 
are they? Some of them no doubt are in public and in private, and 



SHAM MODESTY. 



453 



would continue so if left to themselves; but the old saying is too 
true: "One bad sheep will spoil a whole flock." And when one or 
two flirty, mischievous, artful, cunning, licentious girls get into a 
school, they generally hoodwink their confiding, simple-minded, 
know-nothing kind of teachers, and just raise the devil when they 
are alone. They are all pretty good when under the eyes and 
fingers of their teachers in the class-rooms. They put on a sober 
face and look as meek and innocent as young chickens or lambs; 
but let them get off by themselves and your chicken becomes an 
old hen pretty quick. I would not be misunderstood, however, and 
place all seminaries and all principals of such institutions in the 
same category. There are a good many common-sense men and 
women at the head of such institutions, who are pretty well versed 
in human nature, and know how to manage lazy, cunning, thought- 
less and wayward girls. Neither have I said what I have through 
any feelings of prejudice or spite, for my relations with such 
schools — and I have lectured in a great many of them — have 
always been pleasant and agreeable. In fact, there are no schools 
where my lectures are more heartily enjoyed than in young ladies' 
seminaries. The chief difficulty I experience is, in sometimes 
getting the principals to see the importance of such a lecture; and 
the chief complaint I have against such schools, and, in fact, against 
all schools is, that they do not pursue the right method of instruc- 
tion and discipline; hence the vast amount of sham modesty with 
all its attendant evils that exists in all classes of society. 

I have thus far spoken of what may be termed sexual sham 
modesty. There is another kind, which I propose to call sentimen- 
tal sham modesty. I remember a lecturer telling the following 
story some years ago: At a place where he dined, he was seated 
opposite a young lady, who was so extremely delicate and modest 
that she could not put a whole pea in her mouth at once, but must 
needs cut it in two first. That was too much for the lecturer, and 
feeling satisfied that there was more pretended than real modesty, 
he resolved to watch her after dinner was over. He did so, and it 
was not long before she made her way to the pantry, and, imagin- 
ing herself secluded from observation, she commenced to finish her 
dinner. She did not wait to cut the peas in two this time, but with 
a tablespoon actually shoveled them down. This is but one illus- 
tration of what takes place in every seminary where ladies and 



454 SHAM MODESTY. 

gentlemen board, and eat at the same table. The ladies eat in 
such a mincing manner that they do not get more than half enough, 
and so are always running to the pantry between meals (that is, 
where the management is not too stingy to allow them enough to 
eat, as is the case in some boarding schools). Would it not be 
better for them to dispense with a little of their modest foolery, and 
eat enough at the proper time? And would it not be more bene- 
ficial if their instructors would give them a lecture on the absurdity 
of such conduct, and the violation of physiological laws in regard 
to eating, instead of lecturing them for speaking to the gentlemen 
students on the streets, when they are allowed to converse with 
them at the table ? 

We occasionally meet persons who have a habit of pretending 
they do not want an object or a position when they do, with the 
expectation that it will be more freely given to them. Many an 
office-seeker will not say he wants such a position — in fact, he 
would hardly accept it if tendered to him; at the same time he is 
just aching for it. Some persons will, for a time, loudly proclaim 
against being the recipient of any presents or donations, but, finally, 
their modesty gives way, and when a favorable opportunity is offered 
they will take all they can get. Others will not mention their trials 
and poverty till some other person speaks of them first, so as to 
receive all the more sympathy when it is known. Though I do not 
believe every person who refrains from speaking of his or her pov- 
erty or sufferings has such a motive. 

Some ministers, when they do not receive their salaries promptly, 
or see a chance to get a larger one, inform their congregations that 
they are very sorry duty calls them to leave, but they feel that some 
other man would be more successful among them than they have 
been, and that they think the Lord has called them to another and 
more useful field of labor. The truth of the matter is, that the Lord 
never called such men at all. Men who preach for salaries are 
hirelings, who care more for their pockets, for the loaves and fishes, 
than for the souls of men. They are in for a fat office, and they do 
as fat men do, and say to themselves, "Soul, take thine ease." Just 
as soon as ministers get fat salaries, they are spoiled for their work. 
When men have all they want, they are not generally interested in 
the wants of others. When a business man is hard up, he is the 
most accommodating and neighborly man you wish to meet. But 



SHAM MODESTY- 455 

as soon as he gets rich, or in easy circumstances, he is independent 
and indifferent; and just so it is with ministers. They hold up 
Paul as an illustrious example, next to Christ in the grandeur of his 
character, but very few of them think of imitating him in regard to 
making their living. 

I do not consider a minister should be allowed to want, or be 
troubled with financial embarrassment, nor do I believe God will 
allow a man whom he has called to preach the gospel, to lack for 
either bread or clothing. But when ministers become speculators 
in real estate, or when a panic is sweeping over the land, and 
church members are in straitened circumstances, they say to the 
church, "Pay me my salary, or I will leave," it is evident they are 
not loyal to the cause they profess to advocate; and yet their false 
modesty will manufacture some other excuse for their leaving. 
Churches are about as much to blame as ministers in this respect, 
for they offer tempting and immoderate salaries and inducements 
to get an able man away from some other church, and if he accepts 
their call, the wealthy members begin to lavish presents upon him, 
as a sort of bribe, in order to be special favorites, till his brain is 
turned upside down. The worst thing that can befall a minister, 
with the exception of something criminal, is to become pastor of a 
church that pays him a large salary, or else.pets and idolizes him 
till they make him a baby. There is a vast difference between 
Christian love, which is modest and enduring in its manifestations, 
and the excited outburst of feeling and admiration, which is 
generally immodest in manner, corrupting in its effects, and as 
changeable as the climate of Chicago; for no sooner does an 
idolized pastor leave, than most of their ardor is withdrawn to be 
concentrated on the one who takes his place. I was amused one 
Sunday morning at a preacher in Worcester, Mass. He was begging 
hard from his congregation for a certain sum of money, and they 
were holding back just as hard as he was begging. Their responses 
were few and slow, but his sham modesty would not let him talk to 
them as they deserved, and no doubt he felt in his heart like doing 
so. He mildly requested them not to be too modest in responding. 
He ought to have told them not to be too stingy, for that is what 
really ailed them. 

I firmly believe, that to this false modesty or lack of moral 
courage, so prevalent among the clergy of the present day, may be 



45^ SHAM MODESTY. 

attributed much of the frivolity, sentimentalism, flirtative, fashion- 
able foolery and irreligious tendency that exists in society. I 
remember a clergyman, in whose pulpit I delivered a discourse one 
evening, who refused to read a part of a chapter I had selected in 
Proverbs, bearing on my subject. And it is nothing but ignorance 
and sham modesty that prevents a large proportion of religious 
people from being willing to hear or receive plain truth. When I 
think of the army of preachers all over this continent who seem far 
more willing to discuss some doctrinal point, or wander into the 
fields of theological and metaphysical speculation, or interest them- 
selves in delivering polished and sensational sermons, so as to draw 
large audiences, than they are in preaching on those more vital and 
every-day questions that pertain to the moral and social nature 
from which springs man's present and future character, I say shame 
on that kind of preaching. 

There are some members, who, through that kind of feeling 
which arises from sham modesty, are constantly asserting that they 
do not feel conscious of having accomplished anything of them- 
selves — the Lord has done it all; when, in reality, they are trying 
through their remarks to draw people's attention to the work they 
have done. Or, perhaps, they will say they consider themselves 
the least among God's'children, when, if some other member was to 
tell them that, they would not have pleasant recollections of that 
individual this side of the grave. If they meant and felt just what 
they said, they would not be offended at another person telling 
them what they regarded as the truth; hence, the sham modesty 
of their remarks is apparent. 

False modesty prevents men from declaring the truth as it ought 
to be; induces them to keep back things or ideas they consider too 
delicate to mention, but which ought to be known; prevents per- 
sons from calling things by their plain Saxon names, like the girl 
in school, who pronounced the word legacy limbacy, because her 
sister told her she should say limb instead of leg. 

There is a tendency in the literature of the present day to be 
over-nice and choice in their use of words. The idea is often lost in 
the delicate network of fine, polished and agreeable language with 
which it is clothed. I love prose poetry as much as any man, but it 
has its use and abuse like everything else. There is a time and place 
for it, and there are times and subjects where it is inappropriate. 



SHAM MODESTY. 457 

This literary species of sham modesty affects conversation as well, 
and renders some persons so fastidious in that art, that for fear of 
inelegance in their expressions they make social conversation a 
task; are more cautious as to what they say and how they say it, than 
they would be in getting married. Public speakers are too often 
affected in this way also, and the hesitating, studied and laborious 
manner in which they speak is so clearly impressed upon their 
audiences, that it robs their discourses of one half of their effect and 
power. I would rather hear a man make a grammatical blunder or 
use a common-place expression occasionally and go right along 
with his discourse, speaking from the heart to the heart, than to 
have him stop and mentally chew his words over two or three times 
before he could make up his mind how to express himself; because 
my attention is at once drawn from the idea to the language he 
uses. I care not how well educated a man is, he is liable to make 
grammatical mistakes in preaching or lecturing, especially if he 
speaks extempore as every public speaker ought to do. I was once 
criticised by a public school principal in Chicago, for using before 
his pupils an ungrammatical expression. My mind was so intent 
on the subject I was illustrating that I did not think about the best 
choice of words. He told the principal of one of the other schools 
where I was going to lecture about it, and that intelligent dignitary 
wrote a note to me declining my services. But if he had been as 
modest about how words are written as he was about how they are 
spoken, he would have got one of his scholars to have written the 
note for him. For it was the worst specimen of penmanship for a 
high school principal I ever saw, and when I alluded to the matter 
to the superintendent, he remarked he did not think writing of 
much importance as a qualification for a principal, or words to that 
effect. I always thought that reading, writing, spelling and arith- 
metic were the four principal branches of a public school education. 
But I presume in these days of refinement that Latin, German, 
drawing, elocution and music are more essential to nine-tenths of 
public school children who have to make their living in some 
industrial pursuit. One of the most amusing and ridiculous gram- 
matical blunders I ever heard was by the principal of a high school 
while giving a lesson in English grammar to all the teachers of the 
various schools in the city. For if there is any class of persons 
upon whom the duty of using correct English is more urgent than 



458 SHAM MODESTY. 

others, it is teachers, especially when giving a lesson on that art. 
He had been writing sentences on the blackboard to illustrate his 
subject, and in the course of his explanatory remarks made use of 
the expression, " away down below the bottom. 1 ' Of course the 
man knew better, it being simply a thoughtless slip of the tongue, 
and that is the way with public speakers generally. Something 
like a Vassar College young lady, whose mother was boarding at 
the same house where I stopped for a short time in Poughkeepsie. 
She came to see her mother one Saturday and took dinner with us. 
She was bright and lively as a squirrel, and one of their best 
students. During her conversation at the table, she had occasion 
to refer to a rain storm, and to emphasize the way tho^e heavenly 
drops descended upon her intelligent head, she used a common but 
unmeaning expression, " It rained like pitch-forks." Her pious moth- 
er winked and smiled over it. Everybody at the table knew there 
was no sense in such a remark, and the young lady herself also knew 
it was not proper. But it served to create a little mirth and pro- 
duced more animation and interest in what she said than if she 
had put on a sober face and in a cold, precise way said it rained 
very hard or very fast. It was also a relief to her mind to get out 
of college talk for a few hours, into common-place, social talk. 
I do not recommend, however, that people should make a free use 
of slang phrases. 

False modesty prevents free and social intercourse between the 
sexes. That is, they do not act and feel at ease when in conversa- 
tion in each other's company, unless quite familiar. Their whole 
manner is restrained and constrained, just because they assume a 
character that does not belong to them. It is unnatural. They 
act differently when alone at home. It is astonishing how sham 
modesty will make its victims suffer. Go to any sociable or party, 
and there you will see it active in nearly every person you meet. 
Some of them are so modest they are afraid to speak, for fear 
they will do or say something not exactly modest. Poor creatures! 
If they were to see their country cousins romping over fields, and 
climbing fences, they would be shocked speechless; and yet coun- 
try girls love and enjoy health, freedom and pleasure, which city 
girls are too modest to enjoy. It is to be hoped that the day is not 
far distant, when men and women can converse on any subject 
without the blush of guilty shame mantling their cheeks. False 



SHAM MODESTY. 459 

modesty is the mother of sexual ignorance, and the indirect cause 
of a vast amount of sin and suffering. It is a thick vail thrown 
over human nature, confining ignorance, excluding knowledge, and 
rendering it impossible to look within. 

I have frequently been amused at the manner in which some 
persons represent their business or mode of living, in order to 
appear as high-toned and stylish as possible. They do not like to 
state their exact condition, and so represent their business relations 
in a different light from what they are. There are numerous cases 
in large cities, especially Chicago, where families in good society, 
finding it difficult to meet their expenses, will take two or three 
select boarders, but to prevent the name of "boarding-house" 
being applied to them (as though that was anything to be ashamed 
of) they tell their acquaintances that they have more room than 
they need, and it is so much pleasanter to have a few friends living 
with them ! 

Centuries ago, men and women were grosser in thought and 
feeling and the expression of their sentiments, than the present 
generation is. Nowadays, people go to the other extreme, and are 
altogether too nice and sentimental. If works were published, 
containing language similar to that used by writers in past ages, 
and suggestive of impure thoughts, their authors would be exe- 
crated, if not imprisoned; and yet the objectionable portion of the 
poetical works of such writers as Byron and Shakespeare are re- 
tained and perused at the present day. So I consider sham modesty 
to be partially an outgrowth of sentimentalism. 

The temper of society seems to warrant the impression that 
persons, especially men, may be as wicked as they like (except in 
criminal acts), providing they are smart and shrewd enough to do 
it in a secret manner, so that their deeds are not conspicuous 
enough to cause them to lose their good name or become the 
subjects of conversation in that respect. A man may dissipate as 
much as he pleases, and then by straightening his course, and 
regulating his habits and general conduct, can marry one of the 
best and finest of young ladies. But let a young woman do the 
same thing, and her good name is lost, her conduct severely criti- 
cised, and her reputation is objectionable to all who know her. 
The young man can find his way back into society, but the young 
lady may find her way out as quick as possible. And, in many 



460 SHAM MODESTY. 

instances, these very men who have been sowing their wild oats, 
are the first to speak against the character of a similar class of 
young ladies, which their reckless life has been the means of bring- 
ing them in contact with; yea, the probability is, that they are the 
individuals whose influence has been the chief cause of their mis- 
demeanor. Thus, false modesty in society virtually says: "Young 
man, go ahead; be as full of the devil as you please, for a time; 
then sober down and marry a good woman, and society will respect 
and receive you with outstretched arms." But its language to a 
woman is somewhat different. It practically says to her: "If you 
once step off the track, or even do anything that will cause suspi- 
cion, your fate is sealed, and there is no more room for you in 
social gatherings." 

Sham modesty has even interfered with the practice of kissing. 
In olden times it was customary to salute one another in that 
manner; and the Apostle Paul, in closing most of his epistles, 
particularly enjoined upon the churches to greet one another with 
a holy kiss. So it is evident that either Judas must have rendered 
kissing objectionable, or else Christians nowadays have not love 
and friendship enough for one another to do so. 

A kiss ought to be one of the purest and sweetest things in the 
world. But it would be rather difficult to get a sweet kiss from a 
great many men, who seem to think tobacco is much sweeter, and 
so render their mouths and lips more disgusting than that of a hog. 
And there are plenty of women from whom a kiss would not be 
very sweet either, judging from the odor of their breath. 

There is considerable kissing between women, however, prac- 
ticed through mere politeness, habit, affectation or fashion. And 
it has considerable of the Judas taint about it, for young women 
will kiss each other when, perhaps, they have more hate than love 
in their hearts. They will kiss on the streets, at parties, in public 
assemblies, in the sanctuary, in fact, anywhere and everywhere, and 
then go off and back-bite, and tell each other's secrets and confi- 
dences. They would not kiss a gentleman on any condition, unless 
engaged to him. It would not be modest to do so, but they deem 
it quite modest to kiss an acquaintance of their own sex, out of 
mere pretense, just to show off, and at the same time preach a 
short sermon to the gentlemen, viz.: "Whatever ye would that 
others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." 



SHAM MODESTY. 461 

According- to a newspaper statement, a certain female lecturer 
stated to her audience that a young- lady should not kiss a gentle- 
man, unless she was engaged to him, and then not oftener than 
once a month. That seems to me too much like reducing kissing 
to a mathematical science; and as the affections are the farthest 
removed from, and most unlike mathematics of anything in the 
world, I decidedly object to reducing that fine and delightful art 
to any such arbitrary rules. I feel as though I would like to say 
something on this important and much-abused subject, but writing 
on kissing is something like writing on love. Some years ago, I 
thought I would write some verses on that sweet, soothing, precious 
article called love; but after I had written one verse, I concluded I 
had an elephant on my hands, and gave it up in despair. There 
are a few thoughts, however, I would like to offer on the subject 
of kissing. In the first place, kissing is both an art and a science 
(social science). There is an art in doing it, and a science in the 
cause or nature and use of kisses. I question if there are more 
than two or three men out of fifty who know how to kiss, but 
there are plenty who know how to slobber. Women are by far the 
sweetest, prettiest and most graceful kissers, especially when their 
hearts are in tune with their lips. But the average man drops 
down on a woman's mouth and snatches a kiss as though he w r ere 
trying to catch a chicken or grab a frog. Kissing is something like 
eating in one respect: it should never be done in a hurry. Smack- 
ing is not kissing; there is no soul-magnetism, no rushing of the 
two spirits together, in catching a woman schoolboy-fashion, and 
stealing it in any way you can get it. There may be some fun and 
exercise about such performances, as usually occur on picnic days, 
but there is no soul satisfaction about it. 

Tony, sham-modest persons who go to picnics, will stand by 
and watch the participants of a kissing game with a sort of jealous 
contempt, but would have no objections if they could kiss or be 
kissed on the sly, behind the door, in the corner, or in some room 
secluded from the gaze of others. As to the view taken by some, 
that a young lady should never indulge in kissing until married, or 
at least engaged, I consider it a species of false modesty, or false 
teaching at any rate, for it is contrary to the law of nature. Where 
the affections are well developed, kissing is as natural as breathing; 
and if the moral character is good, and the social nature has been 



462 SHAM MODESTY. 

properly educated, should be as pure as the air we breathe. What 
is kissing but the breathing of the affections of the heart? The 
lips are really the lungs of the affections. Tennyson beautifully 
expresses that when he says: 

"And our spirits rushed together 
At the touching of the lips." 

But there are some people with cold natures, or rigid, cast-iron 
ideas, who would have us believe that kissing is an act that should 
be regulated by marriage laws, just the same as passion is; but the 
desire for kissing is a higher and nobler impulse than passion. It 
occupies a higher place in the affections, because the desire for or 
love of it springs from the organ of conjugality, which is higher 
up in the brain than amativeness. If the feelings of people were 
properly educated on this subject, and there was no sham modesty 
existing, kissing might be more generally practiced with far less 
harm than it often is. The idea that women can kiss cats and dogs 
(as I have seen them do), but not men, seems to me rather absurd. 
And the woman who can lavish her affections and kisses on the 
rat-catching mouth of a cat is hardly fit to kiss a decent man any- 
how. Such actions go to show the natural impulse and desire 
there is in human nature to kiss whatever object it likes, like the 
small, bright, affectionate little boy I saw at the seashore, who was 
just running over with animal spirits, and picking up the cat one 
day, he said: "I want to kiss her right square in the mouth." Now 
to say that a boy with an affectionate nature as he had, after he 
becomes a young man, is not fit to kiss a young lady unless en- 
gaged to her, is something like trying to smother a man to death 
before his time comes to die. It is just such nonsensical society 
rules as this, that make young girls and men with warm natures 
in such a desperate hurry to get married. And I have no doubt 
but young men have become engaged to these prudish young 
women, who will neither kiss nor be kissed until a promise of mar- 
riage is made, just for the sake of more social freedom, without 
ever intending to fulfill their promises. Some men who have easy 
consciences, are very accommodating to young women with old- 
maidish notions; and if it was necessary to get engaged to have 
full social enjoyment with such an one, they would do so, and then 
break it off and leave the woman heart-broken, whenever they saw 
another woman they really wanted to marry. 



SHAM MODESTY. 463 

If kissing girls, however, was not attended with more pleasure 
than I received when trying it several years ago, there would not 
be much of it done. I was acquainted with a good-looking young 
lady, having beautiful eyes and lips; and in my youthful day- 
dreams I thought to myself that the bliss of kissing those ruby lips 
would be almost equal to passing through the gates of Paradise. 
So with her consent I tried it, but I can assure my reader one or 
two applications were quite sufficient. Her breath was too strong, 
I could not stand it. The sense of smell overcame the sense of 
feeling. There was no rushing together of spirits, as Tennyson 
expresses it; my spirit rushed back to its inner chamber and very 
soon cooled down. Pretty soon afterward, she wanted to know 
what made me so cool, and why I did not talk more. I replied, "I 
do not feel like talking." She insisted on knowing what the matter 
was. I told her I did not like to tell her; but she would not take 
No for an answer. Said I: "Will you promise me faithfully you 
will not take offense if I do." No, she certainly would not. "Well," 
said I, "your breath is strong enough to knock a man over." She 
said her mother had told her that her breath was not as sweet as it 
might be; but notwithstanding her mother and I agreed, she broke 
her promise, became mad and mortified, and took the first street- 
car for home. A day or two afterward she sent me a note, stating 
she thought it was time for our acquaintance to cease (no engage- 
ment or even courtship in this case), and that I was not half as nice 
as she thought I was. That was just what I thought about her, 
and I was very glad to get such a note. But she soon changed 
her mind, went to the dentist and had her teeth pulled out, but not 
her bad breath, and then came round again. But I felt I had had 
enough. I was something like the preacher who had rabbit at a 
certain place so often for dinner that he was completely sick of it. 
So one day, being asked to say grace, he responded in language 
similar to the following: "We thank thee, Lord, for the bounties 
of thy Providence, and for all the blessings we receive; but for 
rabbits hot and rabbits cold, for rabbits young and rabbits old, 
for rabbits tender and rabbits tough, we think, O Lord, we've 
had enough." 

My nexT experience in kissing was with a young lady who had 
painted her lips. They looked so red and tempting that I felt 
constrained to try it once more. Suffice it to say it was the most 



464 SHAM MODESTY. 

tasty kiss I ever had, for I could taste it and smell it an hour or 
two afterward. In fact, I could not get rid of it till I went and 
washed my face. Then I thought of the experience of a lady in a 
boarding-house in Philadelphia, and the description she gave of a 
young lady friend of hers, who was in the habit (as many are) of 
painting her lips. She said that whenever she kissed her she 
could taste the coloring afterward; and, said she, "You ought to 
see her eat oysters." Then opening her mouth and raising her 
hand, she showed how the girl would twist an oyster round to get 
it in without touching her painted lips. Finally I began to wonder 
why it was I had such unpleasant experiences and bad luck in 
kissing, for even the poor oysters seemed to be more fortunate in 
gliding round a woman's lips than I was. It was a perplexing 
puzzle to me, and I never could solve the question till I went into 
a lunatic asylum some years afterward, and a crazy colored woman 
told me, or remarked as I passed by, that I was too sweet for any- 
thing! I began to think there was more truth than poetry in that 
remark, and that probably I had been a little too aesthetic in my taste 
— had been looking for an angel to kiss, and had forgotten there were 
no angels in this world in human form. But all at once the advice 
of a female lecturer to a portion of her audience flashed across my 
mind. Said she: "Get married, young men, get married; do not 
wait for the girls to be angels. You would look well beside angels, 
wouldn't you, you brutes!" So I concluded it was folly to be too 
particular in this sin-cursed world, and the next time I took a 
young lady friend home, I made up my mind to have one more 
trial; for I had been taught in my childhood the old adage, "If at 
first you do n't succeed, try, try again," and I saw no reason why 
it should not be applied to kissing as well as to anything else. I 
was determined, however, not to be fooled with bad breath and 
painted lips any more. Because I do not believe in kissing for the 
same reason the old Romans did, who never kissed their wives 
except as an excuse to smell their breath and ascertain if they had 
been drinking. Hence, being positive my lady friend had a sweet 
breath and clean lips, I congratulated myself on the pleasure of a 
sweet, good-night kiss; so arriving at the house and entering the 
hall, I asked her if she was ready to receive the good-night bene- 
diction. She said she did not exactly understand what that was. 
"Well," said I, "will you permit me to instruct you?" She coolly 



SHAM MODESTY. 465 

assented, and I made the attempt to bestow the blessing, but the 
light in the hall had gone out, and I could not see very well, and 
her lips were so thin and her mouth so small (which accounted for 
her being so cool) that I could not for the life of me tell where to 
kiss, and just went bobbing and gliding around her face from one 
place to another, like a hungry mosquito trying to find out where 
to bite. At last I cried out in despair, "Susan, have you not got any 
lips?" "Not for kissing," said she. I believed her, and started for 
home, having no desire to give thanks and ask for another, as the 
over-modest preacher did who had been courting a lady some 
years and had never ventured to kiss her. He was an exception, 
of course, to the average preacher, but eventually he remarked one 
evening to his sweetheart that he had learned that young people who 
were keeping company occasionally kissed each other, and would she 
have any objection? "Certainly not," was the prompt reply (for I pre- 
sume the poor creature had been waiting for and expecting it two 
or three years). Then saluting her in true Christian fashion, and 
remembering his calling at the same time, and that all acts should 
be accompanied with prayer, and receive the sanction of heaven, 
said he, "Let us return thanks, and take another." But, alas, I 
could not conscientiously do that, because I received nothing to 
return thanks for. I did not get even the shadow of a kiss, and as 
I walked home I felt more like praying, "Lord, make women with 
mouths fit to kiss, or else remodel me." My advice in a condensed 
form to all who wish to kiss or be kissed in a proper manner is, be 
sure you find a person with a sweet breath, and lips that are clean 
and healthy, and full enough to receive the impression. For I can 
assure the reader that there are a large number of people in the 
world who do not enjoy kissing, and a still greater number who 
are neither fit to kiss nor be kissed. 

Another absurd and unhealthy habit of kissing with women, 
which is even worse and more stupid than the cat and dog business, 
is the kissing of dead folks. What possible pleasure can there be 
to a living person to perform such an act? and as far as the dead 
are concerned, they might as well kiss a bed-post; and as far as 
their own health is concerned, it would be much better for them to 
do so. I heard of one woman who got the small-pox by kissing a 
man who died with it. She was probably more anxious to kiss him 
after he was dead than when he was living. I cannot speak posi- 



466 SHAM MODESTY. 

tively, but I believe there are plenty of married people who do not 
kiss each other from one year's end to the other. Where there is 
little love there is little kissing; but where there is much love there 
will be proportionately much kissing - . And I should certainly think 
it a little more sensible to kiss living men than corpses, cats, dogs, 
and persons of their own sex, as the women do, just for pretense and 
display. And that man or woman who has no taste or desire to 
kiss or be kissed, is lacking in the development of the affectional 
nature; such a person is not well balanced in the social character, is 
deficient in the organ of conjugality and a warm, confiding nature. 

But the trouble is, the social nature of young people is not 
properly educated. We have schools and colleges to teach almost 
everything else, but none to properly instruct young men and 
women how to use, develop, give vent to or restrain the natural 
promptings of the heart. Were this done, most of the flirtation, 
prostitution and dissipation, yea, even crimes, that now curse the 
world, would not exist. The affections are like rivers, and you 
cannot dam them up. And if they do not empty into the ocean 
of life through the right channel, they will, most assuredly, run in 
the wrong channel. 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 



Opposites a Law of Nature — This same Law Applies to Human Spirits — Kindred Spirits 
Flock Together and Corrupt each other What a Man Soweth that shall he also 
Reap — Incident to Illustrate the Fear of Guilt — Three Things to Notice in Connec- 
tion with Spirits — Their Birth, Looks and Doings — Evil Hereditary in a Large 
Measure — Some Spirits are Born Bad — Some Become Bad through Evil Association 
— Some through Defective Education — Low Theaters — Filthy Conversation — Bad 
Company — The Case of a Young Lady in Canada — Good Spirits are Born and 
Raised through Good Parents and the right kind of Education — The Trouble with 
the Majority of Schools — Evil Spirits are Forever Doing Something to Curse Man- 
kind — Three ways of Showing up Character — By Action, Voice and Expression — 
The Influence of a Selfish Nature does not last long — Every Man the Architect of 
his own Character — Hot Sinners and Cold Sinners — Illustrations of both Kinds — 
Young Lady in California — Piano-Tuner — How to tell whether one's own Spirit is 
Good or Bad — A Man's Face the Picture of his Soul — Different Kinds of Wicked- 
ness Produce Different Kinds of Facial Expression — Good and Bad Souls can be 
Felt as well as Seen — The Triune Method of Reading Character — Phrenology, 
Physiognomy and Psychology — The Electrical Power Thrown off by Persons and 
Audiences — Illustrations of this — How Bad Spirits can be Detected — Blonde and 
Brunette Wickedness or Goodness — The Human Family, as a whole, Resembles 
the Starry Firmament. 



There are some spirits, sweet and pure, 

Whose holy fragrance fills the earth, 
While others seem but to allure, 

With subtle arts to sin and death. 

OPPOSITES seem to be a law of nature, and in the moral world 
there are two great opposites, the good and the bad. In regard to 
the philosophy of evil, its origin, and the reason why it was permit- 
ted to show its hideous form in this beautiful world of ours, I shall 
not attempt to offer any theories; but proceed to draw a contrast 
between the two forces, good and evil, as manifested in their modi- 
fied forms in human life and conduct. 

It is not many years after birth before the spirit of an individual 
gives signs and evidences of its natural character and tendencies. 
The very looks, as well as language and actions of children, reveal 
what is within them. Water will run no higher than its own level, 
unless forced; neither will the soul rise above its natural moral 



468 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

level, unless it be lifted up by the power of external influence and 
education. For this reason, children, not being inwardly restrained 
or constrained by that kind of knowledge which comes from years 
of experience and instruction, generally give vent to their feelings 
and impulses, and if left to themselves, they will act out their 
natural or inherited dispositions. 

The diversity of dispositions in youth must be apparent to every 
observer, and they can easily be divided into two classes, the good 
and the bad. School teachers soon learn the bent of a pupil's mind:, 
one is full of mischief and nonsense; another is perverse and disa- 
greeable, hard to manage, or to do anything with; another is lazy 
and indifferent; while still another is docile, amiable, and thoughtful 
— the teacher's pride and joy. 

The good spirit in childhood is easily controlled and readily 
responds to good and higher influences. The bad spirit is not only 
troublesome, but a constant burden to whosoever has the training 
of it; and like as the twig is bent, will the tree be formed, so as the 
youthful mind is inclined, will the character be fixed, unless changed 
by culture. As the snowball gathers and enlarges as it is pushed 
along the path, so spirits good and bad grow better or worse, as 
the years of their existence roll on. What seemed but a little mole- 
hill of sin in the child, becomes a mountain of iniquity in the adult. 
Silently but surely the forces of evil corrupt the passions and trans- 
form the soul from good to bad, and from the image of its Creator 
to that of its master, the Devil. Spirits good and bad surround us 
on every hand; they gaze into our faces wherever we go, and im- 
press us with their good or evil influences and motives. The one 
inspires us with noble thoughts and desires, the other insinuates 
distrust and unholy thoughts; the one soothes and comforts us, the 
other suggests and bewilders; the one is like an aroma of sweetness, 
the other is like an offensive effluvia; the one we love, the other we 
dislike. Our likes and dislikes, however, will depend upon what 
we are ourselves; if our own spirits are good, we will love the good; 
but if evil we will love the bad. Birds of a feather flock together, 
and kindred spirits will be attracted to each other, whether good 
or bad. Society runs in classes and cliques, from that of the boot- 
black to that of the president or king upon his throne. No matter 
how cold the day boot-blacks in our large cities will congregate on 
the corners of the principal streets in groups from two upwards, 







PETER COOPER. 

An honest face, and a plain, unassuming, practical, common-sense, good-natured soul. 
He has the oblong face. The eye expresses goodness, tenderness of feeling and sympathy. 
The mouth expresses a pleasant disposition, an affectionate nature. His successful busi- 
ness career, and unselfish, generous nature, has made his name a household word. The 
expression of the face, as a whole, is a good illustration of what I call Religious Nature, 
which is defined among the phrenological organs in the latter part of this book. 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 469 

even though they may wrangle and quarrel half the time. There 
seems to be a common bond of union that instinctively draws them 
together, however much they may oppose each other in their busi- 
ness or feelings. They become kindred spirits in their mode of life, 
aims, tastes, and desires. In like manner there is a sympathy be- 
tween wicked spirits, because their natures are similar, even though 
they may dislike each other in some respects; and they will even 
love a wicked place better than a good place, because it is more 
congenial. Like loves like. 

Whoever heard of a bad man or woman enjoying a prayer-meet- 
ing ! Talk about hell ! It would be hell on earth to a really bad 
man to compel him to go to a prayer-meeting. Five minutes in 
such a place would seem like five hours. He could sit on a picket 
fence and watch a game of base-ball or a horse-race for a whole 
hour, much easier than he could sit on a cushioned seat in a prayer- 
meeting for a few minutes. Yes, he could be contented in an 
uncomfortable seat watching some worldly sport, but sit him down 
to listen to something sacred, or perhaps condemnatory of his life 
and character, and he would wriggle all over the seat — the most 
uneasy and restless mortal you ever saw. Like a young man I 
remember, who boarded where I did once. He was nice and 
attractive in some respects, but decidedly fast. He was anxious 
to get me into a billiard hall and similar places, and I was equally 
as anxious to get him into a Sunday-school. One Sabbath after- 
noon I succeeded in getting him to go to a Sabbath-school. I 
managed to keep him there long enough to listen to the singing 
of the opening exercises; but he was out of his sphere and social 
element, and would, no doubt, have felt more at home in a pen- 
itentiary. 

Bad people cannot endure the society of good people in this life 
and world; the two cannot associate and form companionships any 
more than oil and water can be united. Yet, strange to say, bad 
people all expect or hope to get to heaven where the good, whose 
society the wicked cannot endure on earth, alone can go. What 
kind of a heaven or hell would that be with a mixture of good and 
evil spirits through the ceaseless ages of eternity ? 

The life and character of a person is determined to a great 
extent by the kind of spirits he has come in contact with, and been 
influenced by, especially in his youthful days. Mind acts upon 



470 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

mind, either for good or evil, and we are so marvelously suscepti- 
ble to mental impressions, that unconsciously we become psychol- 
ogised or soul-influenced even by individuals of little power and 
capacity. It becomes us, therefore, to know for our own good and 
protection the character of the spirits that seek to impress us, or 
become our acquaintances and associates. We cannot afford to be 
spiritually blind, either to our own spiritual nature or that of others; 
for not merely the present, but eternal life and happiness hang upon 
this question of soul-influence. To know and discern the good and 
the bad, then, is the paramount duty of all; and to aid us in dis- 
criminating between the two, the Almighty has portrayed and fixed 
the character of every soul upon its physical form, especially the 
face. In other words, he has given to us the science of physiog- 
nomy which, like a mirror, faithfully reflects the likeness or charac- 
ter that is thrown upon it. Thoughts first stamp themselves upon 
the soul, which is more sensitive than the body, and are not at first 
fixed upon the countenance; but as some writer has said, "Time 
at length makes all things even," so the thoughts that are oft re- 
peated and cherished in the heart grow into mental rivers and form 
for themselves channels, which constantly coursing through the 
soul, begin through the electricity of the body to act upon the brain 
cells and nervous system, and which in turn acts upon the muscles 
and through them reaches the exterior of the body, and become 
visible to the naked eye. Thus the immaterial is brought to light 
through the material, and all earthly spirits are made to reveal their 
hidden characters. As there are wicked and ugly souls, so there 
are wicked and ugly faces which become all the more hideous as 
age creeps over them. They never ascend, but always descend in 
their character and appearance. It is not in the nature of bad and 
ugly things to improve or progress, but rather to deteriorate and 
go down, down, down ! There are good and lovely souls accompa- 
nied by good and lovable forms. The one never misrepresents the 
other, for figs do not grow on thorns and thistles; neither do pure, 
good looking faces grow on polluted souls. Nature never lies; she 
is ever true to herself. A man's tongue may lie, but his face never, 
no, never ! 

"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," is as true 
of his facial expression as of his rewards and punishment. Sad 
thought for the evil-doer, but bright and joyous for the pure in 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 47.I 

heart. To be known to our fellow creatures as well as to our 
Creator, and to carry on our faces our own recommendations, is a 
comfort and a blessing to all right thinking and acting people. But 
as men love darkness rather than light, so they love ignorance 
rather than knowledge; and it is this class of people who would fain 
hide their faces, or rather the language written on them. To be 
known to others as they know themselves, horrifies and enrages 
them, and they naturally shrink from the acceptance of phrenolog- 
ical or physiognomical truth as a thief shrinks from the camera of a 
photographer. 

Evil-doers do not like even their actions criticised or observed, 
much less their faces. To be watched, annoys and aggravates them 
beyond endurance. Like a group of young men I noticed on a 
street corner in Chicago, one night. Their manner indicated some- 
thing wrong as to their characters and motives, so I stood on the 
opposite corner and watched them for a minute or two, which so 
excited and enraged them that they gave vent to threatening lan- 
guage. This at once confirmed my opinion of them, because if they 
had been good and peaceable citizens, they would have taken no 
notice of me, and would not even have imagined themselves being 
watched. But the conscience of evil-doers, designers, plotters, 
and schemers (that is, if it is not dead) terrifies them, and makes 
them suspicious and afraid almost of their own shadows; "for the 
wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold 
as a lion." 

A pick-pocket was standing on the corner of a prominent 
street in Philadelphia, one morning, waiting, I suppose, for a vic- 
tim, as a gentleman who used to be a detective and myself passed 
along on the other side of the street. My friend, the ex-detective, 
noticed him and instantly stopped and gave him a sharp and search- 
ing look. That was enough. The thief saw him, and quietly but 
quickly made his way down the street. My acquaintance remarked 
afterwards that he could easily pick out those characters, and 
frighten them off. And why, let me ask, could he so readily recog- 
nize those characters from others without personally knowing them? 
I reply, because there was something in their looks and actions that 
indicated just what they were. There was no other earthly way by 
which he or anybody else could distinguish them from others but 
by their manner and appearance. 



47 2 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

It was the external manifestation of their character that made 
them conspicuous, and it is this visible manifestation of character 
in face, form, and manner, that makes us all like or dislike every 
stranger we meet; and if it were not for this fact that every soul 
reveals its character through the body, I do not see why everybody 
should not look alike or very nearly so (because it is a law in 
nature that the more perfect any species is, the greater its variety). 
We find as great a variety of dispositions and characters, as we 
do bodies and faces; and wherever we find similar forms we also 
discover characters which are similar; thus form and character are 
inseparably connected, the one cannot exist without the other. 

There are three things I wish to notice and contrast in good 
and bad spirits, viz.: their birth, looks and doings. Bad spirits are 
begotten through the bad thoughts and habits of their parents, and 
good spirits through the good thoughts and habits of their parents. 
Like begets like; purity produces purity; love excites love; and 
wickedness brings forth nothing but wickedness. And as murder 
will out, or come to light; as love will reveal itself like the light of 
the sun, so evil natures will be made manifest in succeeding gener- 
ations. The rising generation is the moral photograph of the 
preceding one; it is the past reflected on the horizon of the future, 
and the great mistake of mankind is in living only for themselves 
and the present, thoughtless of the future, and the generation to 
come after them. Self-gratification is the great adversary of future 
happiness; it deals only with the present, being indifferent to the 
past and unconscious about the future; hence it is that men rush 
heedlessly along the pathway of life, and plunge into matrimonial 
relationship with never a thought as to what will be the result of 
their conduct. Then blinded by passion and lust they rock their 
sinful souls in the cradle of self-indulgence, and when in after years 
the living objects of their folly stare them in the face, they are 
startled, and in wonder and amazement ask, How can these things 
be? The middle-aged as well as young men and women who sow 
their wild oats, may rest assured that their sins will find them out. 
They may keep and cherish their evil thoughts and purposes to 
themselves, and conceal from their neighbors their bad practices, 
but nature will some day stamp them on the souls of their children, 
and engrave them upon their faces. The guilty shall not go un- 
punished; they and their children will bear the mark of sin upon 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 473 

them, just as surely as did Cain and the descendants of Ham. The 
Almighty has declared that he will visit the iniquities of the fathers 
upon the children unto the third and fourth generations. Do you 
ask me for proof? Look around you and all over the land, and 
behold the diseased, enfeebled, suffering, sin-cursed specimens of 
humanity that abound everywhere ! Then look into the faces of the 
thousands you meet, and observe the dull, stupid, ignorant, idiotic, 
insane, fast, licentious, and God-forsaken look that many of them 
hang out upon their countenances, and tell me if the soul does not 
cast its image upon the face, and the parent transmit his character 
to the unborn child. I assert and think the world proves it, that a 
large proportion, perhaps the largest, of unclean spirits that infest 
society, have inherited their evil natures from their parents or 
great grand parents; that they are born into this world with a 
polluted, corrupted, and devilish nature — one that is extremely 
susceptible to evil, but not to good; and one that will gradually 
develop itself with the growth of the child. Not a few, however, 
who would naturally incline to the good side of life, were their 
associations good, have become bad through the influence of evil 
suggestions, companions and temptations that have constantly 
beset them on every hand. Separated perhaps from home and 
moral restraint, they have gradually weakened and yielded to the 
pressure brought to bear upon them, till they have finally gone 
down into the slums of iniquity; these are they of whom there is 
strong hope of recovery or reclamation when brought under good 
influence. But I have seen mere children, and plenty of boys and 
girls show such depraved traits in their characters, that it seemed 
to me no kind of influence or training, however pernicious, could 
have developed it in their brief life-time. They are the children 
who, as they grow up, give their parents a world of trouble, and 
perhaps eventually bring their gray hairs in sorrow to the grave 
years before their natural time. Think of the boys and girls who 
run away from home that they may avoid all restraint and dive 
headlong into sin, or what they consider freedom and pleasure; of 
the army of young criminals that are brought into the police court; 
of young girls, mere children, accosting men on the streets and 
offering to fornicate with them for money! I was requested by a 
mother to examine the head of her little girl, who possessed a spirit 
quite different from those I have just described. She had been 



474 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

living in a block where other families resided, and her girl had seen 
and heard things from other children that shocked her modesty, 
and were offensive to her purer and more sensitive nature, and it 
was with great difficulty her mother could prevail on her to state 
to herself what she had seen and heard. She told of one little girl 
in particular, living opposite to her, who had been telling about her 
adventures the night before, and expressed herself in some such 
language as the following: " Didn't I mash the fellows, though?" 
Here, then, were two opposite natures, and the little girl whom the 
mother brought to me illustrates what I have already expressed: 
that a pure-minded child would be repelled, disgusted and frightened 
at the mere suggestion or sight of anything sensual. 

The tendency to lie, deceive, cheat, steal, flirt and murder is 
also hereditary, and will be manifested early in life. The awful 
tempers that some children are cursed with could not possibly have 
been developed in their short existence. It is not a very rare thing 
to hear of one boy shooting, stabbing or killing another. While 
visiting a police court one morning, a small boy was brought before 
the magistrate for unmercifully thrashing another; and as he was 
so very small and young, the judge was perplexed to know what to 
do with him; so he sent him to his cell till the afternoon in order 
to have time to consider his case. I suggested to the judge that J 
would like to see the boy and examine his head. " Very well," said 
he, "the captain shall bring him up to you." I examined the boy and 
on returning to the court room the magistrate asked me what I 
thought of him. Said I, "Judge, the trouble with that boy is he 
was never born right, and his parents are to blame for what he is." 
On another occasion there were two boys and girls brought in from 
a bad place, all found in bed together by the police officer, though the 
girls stoutly denied it. They were too young to have lost all their 
modesty and developed that bad nature unless licentiousness had 
been born in them, and modesty left out of them. Their very looks 
betrayed them; not only of the girls, but also of the boys. I fear, 
however, many people of over-modest and reserved natures who 
have never studied, seen, or in any way come in contact with the 
moral corruption that exists in all classes and ages of society, will 
think I am stating things too strongly and coloring them too high. 
But I am not. I have only stated the bare facts without the slight- 
est exaggeration. There is enough truth and reality pertaining to 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 475 

the subject I am writing on without drawing on my imagination to 
fill out the picture, and the reader may rest assured that throughout 
all my writings he will find no picture, no exaggerated statements. 
There is too much fiction in the world already, and that is one 
reason why people do not take more interest in facts, and know 
more of what is going on around them in every-day life. To live 
as thousands do in a world of sentimentalism, and ignore the stern 
realities that meet them and stare them in the face wherever they 
go, is a sad mistake, and one of the reasons why so much evil 
abounds and so many evil spirits are left to pursue, unmolested in 
many cases, their devilish deeds. 

I have already intimated that good spirits may become bad 
through the force of circumstances and improper education. There 
are good parents who are really doing the very thing to make their 
children bad. Many a son and daughter have been driven from his 
or her home by the cold, rigid, formal, exacting and over-religious 
discipline of parental authority, which has made their lives as miser- 
able as though they were shut up in a penitentiary. And when they 
do break loose from home restraint, and breathe the air of freedom, 
many of them, not knowing how to use what they have never had, 
but often wished for, run into dissipation and perhaps do something 
to put them under the restraint of the law. Then, having once 
been humiliated by arrest and imprisonment, they lose self-respect 
and feel that nobody cares for them, but rather that everybody is 
against them. Then, in a fit of mental depression and desperation, 
they fall into a life of worthlessness, dissipation and crime. That 
is about the course a young man would be apt to take; while a 
young woman would elope or marry the first man she could; or 
still worse, find her way to a house whose steps take hold on hell. 
Some parents are constantly opposing the desires, tastes and am- 
bition of their children. They want to do one thing, and their 
parents insist on their doing something else; and thus oppose, 
hinder and keep them back in the accomplishment of their purpose 
in life. What an army of young men have had their prospects and 
chances in life blasted by the injudicious and stubborn opposition 
of their parents; or it may be their unwillingness to assist them 
financially in preparing themselves to start on the road to pros- 
perity. The unperverted taste of young people will go a long way 
to assist them in determining their true sphere in life; but the folly 



476 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

of parents often steps in and hinders or throws a stumbling block in 
their way. Their pride and vanity may want their son to do some- 
thing he has no taste or talent for; or, if they are poor, they may 
be anxious to have him work at something to bring in a few dollars, 
thereby depriving him of an ordinary education, and forcing him 
into an insignificant position the remainder of his days. It is true 
that occasionally men of genius surmount all obstacles and reach 
the goal of their ambition, but they are the exception and not the 
rule. It is also true that many of these young persons, thwarted 
in their plans to pursue a calling in life they naturally love, become 
crushed in spirit, careless in habits, and destitute of enterprise and 
energy; and when they reach that point they are as likely to fall 
into an evil life as a good one; for he who has no object or aim in 
life has really little or nothing to live for, and if he has nothing to 
live for, he grows indifferent to his own welfare, physically, men- 
tally and morally. A defective education, leaving a weak point in 
the character, may be the means of turning him from the path of 
rectitude and life, to ruin and death. That weak point will sooner 
or later be exposed to temptation or trial, and unless protected in 
some way he will wince and succumb. I care not how strong a 
man may be in other parts of his body, if his lungs are weak he is 
in danger of colds and consumption, which may carry him off unless 
he takes precaution to strengthen his lungs and ward off colds, or 
suddenly break them up. A house or public building may have a 
solid foundation and be strongly erected; nevertheless, if it has a 
defective chimney it is in great danger of being destroyed by fire. 
A fort may be well supplied with war material, and soldiers well 
officered, but if there is a weak spot in its structure the enemy will 
soon demolish or take it. It does not pay to send young people 
out into the world with flaws in their education; still it is being 
done every day. The fashionable schools of education, especially 
female seminaries, where they seem to aim to fit young ladies to 
shine in society, and nowhere else, are doing just this kind of 
defective work. They train them theoretically but not practically; 
give them a smattering of music, French, drawing, painting, his- 
tory, etc.; and then conclude that they are educated, when the 
practical part that fits them to come in contact with the world and 
human nature, has been entirely left out. The most these girls 
know about men's character, and I am not sure but that of their 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 477 

own sex, also, is what they have gleaned over the midnight lamp 
from some highly-colored novel. The result is, that these girls, 
when they graduate in all their finery and pomposity, are as green 
as grass on the very things they ought to study and learn at school. 
And many of the things they have learned they will make no use 
of and forget in less than six months after they leave school. 

This is true, more or less, of all schools of learning. The mere 
theoretical is crammed into them, and the practical left out. I 
hardly know who is to blame; whether it is the parents who send 
them and put up with such an education, or really want it, or the 
teachers and principals who give that kind of training. Think of 
a father or mother spending hundreds or thousands of dollars edu- 
cating a daughter at a fashionable boarding-school, and then have 
her come home and throw herself away on some worthless fellow, 
or elope with the hired man, and finally drift into a lost life, which 
she would have more sense to do had she been rightly educated. 
While I was lecturing in West Virginia, one season, I heard of a 
girl who was taken out of a female seminary in some other state, 
by a young man, seduced and left in a house of prostitution. She 
probably knew more about French, music and grammar, than she 
did about men and human nature. Being acquainted with the 
young man, and possessing a confiding and affectionate nature, her 
ruin was easily accomplished. She came in contact with a bad 
spirit in the form of a bad man; but she had never been taught 
anything about such individuals, and, like Eve, knew not the 
tempter until she had sinned, and it was too late. Tell me, reader, 
what good was her education to herself or anybody else? Was it 
not defective somewhere? Was not a good spirit transformed into 
a bad spirit by her innocence of the motives of the man she sup- 
posed to be her friend? O but you say, "If she had been a good 
girl she would have returned to her home." That is easier said 
than done; for in the first place, she felt ashamed to go home; that 
kind of sin always brings a sense of deep shame when committed 
the first time. It was so with our first parents; they went and hid 
themselves. And so young women naturally want to hide them- 
selves from their parents, whom they fear, just as much as Adam 
and Eve did from the Almighty. In the next place, she was left 
in a strange city without any money (because it is not necessary 
for a lady to carry money with her when escorted anywhere by a 



478 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

gentleman), and, therefore, had no means to get home with, unless 
she made her case known. In the third place, the keeper of the 
house of ill-fame in which she was left and deserted by her seducer, 
would use the utmost of her influence and power — if not force — to 
keep her there until she became reconciled to her fate. Thus, you 
see how hard it is for a poor girl, when once deceived and seduced, 
to return to a life of purity and to her home. For this reason, I 
urge the necessity of a change in the public and private systems 
of education, which leaves character so deficient in discipline, so 
weak in its power to resist evil, and so deficient in a general 
knowledge of human nature. 

Bad spirits are frequently developed through bad companion- 
ship, filthy conversation and immodest sights. Let a young person 
of good tendencies fall into the society of one just the opposite, 
and keep his or her company, the chances are that the evil one 
will corrupt the other, unless wonderfully fortified in moral strength, 
principle and courage. Men cannot witness immoral scenes, nor 
gaze on licentious persons, or pictures of them, without injuring 
their souls, any more than they can contract a loathsome disease 
without injuring their bodies. That which appeals to men's pas- 
sions through the sense of sight, is a powerful tempter; because it 
not only arouses the passions for the time being, but lingers in the 
mind when the vision has passed away. The senses of feeling and 
hearing are momentary as compared with that of sight. A picture 
of anything may be kept constantly before the eyes. Hence, the 
sense of sight paints its images and impressions much stronger on 
the mind than any other of the five senses. The man who keeps 
before his sight an obscene picture, or goes to shows where they 
dance or perform other lewd acts, is murdering his own soul. It 
is a common sight in any large city to see men of all ages hur- 
rying and rushing to the ticket office of a variety theater, with all 
the intensity and eagerness of their natures, and almost push one 
another away in their anxiety to get tickets first, and secure the 
best seats. They imagine they are going to have a good time and 
a luxurious feast of sight-seeing. Well, perhaps they do, judging 
from their own perverted taste; because what these men seem to 
enjoy the most, is to smoke, chew, spit, drink and listen to coarse, 
lewd, far-fetched jokes, and gaze on half-dressed women daubed up 
with powder and paint till they look more like fiends than women. 




LUCRETIA MOTT. 



A pure facial expression. Intelligence, goodness and a friendly, sympathizing nature 
are strongly marked in the above face. The mouth denotes sweetness of temper, refine- 
ment, self-control and a happy frame of mind. In the eyes thoughtfulness, reflection, 
earnestness and seriousness are plainly pictured. The full, broad, high forehead shows 
the literary, philanthropic form of head, which, combined with her piety, has made her 
famous. Contrast this facial expression and form of head with that of Ingersoll's, or any 
skeptic or infidel you may know. A mere novice in physiognomy can readily discern the 
difference in character as expressed in the face of Lucretia Mott, and that of the young 
woman on the other page. Nor has the difference in age anything to do with the pure 
and impure expressions; the only difference in reference to age and youth being that in 
an old person the natural character is more strongly fixed and engraven upon the features, 
whether it be good or evil. 




THE IMPURE AND IRRELIGIOUS FACE. 



I do not know the person, nor even the name, this cut represents, but use it on gen- 
eral principles to illustrate this type of character. There are a great many similar faces 
and characters. The expression, as a whole, shows a nature far more susceptible to evil 
influences than to good impressions; and, unless properly and carefully trained in early 
life, are pretty sure to turn out bad. These small, black eyes are insinuating, artful, 
suggestive and wicked. There is also a certain kind of fascination about them which 
tempts and allures. The mouth is somewhat licentious. Such a nature will take to sin 
and general deviltry like a duck to the water, but will shun religious exercises, influence, 
restraint and society. ' The character is light and passional, and wanting in strength and 
solidity. The face, though pretty, is mere animal beauty; nothing spiritual about it. 
The conscience of such a face is slippery, unreliable, sometimes treacherous, and will 
stretch like India rubber. 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 479 

But, of course, the frequenters of these places never seem to think 
it does them any injury. It feeds their baser passions, while the 
clog-dancing and low, rough, comical acting of the men, excites 
their mirthfulness; so they go home pleased, and think that they 
are better prepared for business the next day. They have had a 
good laugh, and they say that a good laugh cheers them up after a 
hard day's work with the cares of business. You can tell almost 
every business man who visits these haunts of iniquity. You will 
find his windows half-full of the show-bills and pictures of actresses 
at these theaters. He will cover up half of his goods providing he 
can get a few tickets for it, not only of the low theaters, but all 
classes of shows and theaters. Saloons, cigar-stores, clothing- 
stores, hat-stores and drug-stores, are generally filled up with that 
kind of rubbish (not the first-class clothing and drug stores, but 
the middle and cheaper class). 

The fallacy of this method of a certain class of business men as 
well as the laboring class to cheer up their depressed spirits, must 
be apparent to any reflecting mind that takes cognizance of cause 
and effect. It blunts their moral sensibilities, and destroys all taste 
for anything of a spiritual, religious, or scientific nature. It lowers 
their organic tone, creates depraved sentiments that can appreciate 
nothing unless it smacks of immorality and lowness, and worst of 
all destroys their sense of right and wrong, and totally blinds their 
moral eye-sight so that they cannot see the cess-pool of iniquity 
and filth into which they have dragged their souls. In other words, 
they cannot, nor have they any desire to, see the condition of their 
own hearts; for they have become variety-show maniacs, and have 
consequently, slowly but surely, developed bad spirits. I grant, 
however, that a large number of them only become negative bad 
spirits, that is, though they have contaminated their own souls, 
they do not seek to contaminate others; but unfortunately some of 
them become positive bad spirits — that is, those who are not satis- 
fied with having defiled themselves, but try to defile others: like a 
young man who took a young lad to a variety show in Chicago one 
night where there was a cancan dance at the close. As a student 
of human nature, I was anxious to drop into one of those dens and 
study the faces of the frequenters of such places, as well as the 
actors and actresses (if they may be called such) who gave such 
performances, and the character of the entertainment- The boy I 



480 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

was just alluding to, was sitting behind me, and when the French 
cancan came on, I watched the boy's countenance to see what effect 
it would have upon him. If ever I felt sorry for the welfare of any- 
body it was for that poor boy. He blushed and fairly quivered with 
excitement. It was no doubt the first performance of the kind he 
had ever seen, but I fear not the last; for his sexual passion was 
evidently aroused and excited beyond boyish control. I not only 
watched the boy's face but listened to the conversation, for I could 
not help hearing it they were so close to me. The man remarked: 
"Pretty good show, is it not, Johnny, for ten cents?" "Yes," said 
the trembling boy. "Well," said the man, " whenever you want to 
come down here again, just let me know and I'll bring you." These 
are the kind of bad spirits that I wish to refer to in this essay-- 
the positive and not the negative kind — those who corrupt and 
ruin others as well as themselves. 

As to how many souls have been ruined through filthy conver- 
sation in the way of smutty sexual stories, which never had any 
foundation save in the foul and licentious imagination of the origi- 
nator, I have no means of knowing. But I do know that some of 
the smuttiest stories I have ever heard, and that made a deeper 
and more lasting impression on my mind than any others, were 
related in my youthful years by church members — men who were 
active members, supposed to be seeking and trying to save souls 
instead of trying to ruin them. If I were to live a thousand years 
I could never forget stories that a clergyman told in his own parlor, 
and in the presence and hearing of his daughters (young women 
from seventeen to twenty years of age). One of them went into the 
next room and the other remained, reclining on the lounge, laugh- 
ing at the scene and individual described. I was thunderstruck 
and bewildered, not knowing what to say, nor which way to look; 
and if I had not heard the man preach and knew positively where 
I was, I should have suspected that I was in a house of ill-fame, 
instead of in a minister's residence and family. True, there was 
nothing bad in the words used, or the act described, but it was 
suggestive of evil, especially in the presence of his daughters, and 
therefore tended, whether it was so meant or not, to arouse the 
amative feelings. I do not say the clergyman was a bad man. He 
was very sociable and had other good characteristics; but he was 
certainly very indiscreet and careless in his conversation, and far 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 481 

more particular and zealous about his church creed than he was 
concerning- the moral effect of what he said. It is bad enough to 
hear licentious stories from men of the world, but when they come 
from professing Christians (whether that profession is real or not) 
they are apt to have a greater influence upon a young man's mind. 
He naturally reasons to himself thus: Well, it is wrong, no doubt, to 
indulge in sexual intercourse before marriage, but there is no harm 
in thinking, talking and joking about it. That is a sad mistake 
which many young men and women make, and the starting point 
from which springs many an evil and ruined life. Bad thoughts 
ripen into bad actions; it is the strongest and most subtle weapon 
the devil has; it is a sort of mental wedge that enters the mind so 
softly and imperceptibly that the soul is lulled into sinful desires 
before it realizes the change that is taking place. And let me tell 
you, young man, or woman, or whosoever may peruse these pages, 
that when once the old serpent of sexual lust has coiled itself 
around your heart, I would not give much for your soul, unless the 
Almighty comes to your assistance. That awful passion will hold 
you with an iron grasp, from which it is extremely difficult to 
break away. 

That was the mistake which innocent Eve first made in reference 
to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She looked at it, thought 
about it, and listened to evil suggestions from the tempter, and 
finally her thoughts led to an action which was sinful, and so sin 
led on to death. Let no one demoralize you with impure language. 
One bad word and evil thought may counteract a dozen good ones, 
and to harbor an evil thought in your soul is like carrying a venom- 
ous reptile in your naked bosom. We are not to blame for having 
bad thoughts in this world of sin and depravity; we shall always be 
troubled with them. But we are to blame and responsible for 
cherishing them like a sweet morsel and nursing them in our souls, 
day and night, till they finally nurse us. Says the scriptures, "Who- 
soever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed 
adultery in his heart." This implies a two-fold act on the part of 
the individual before he sins. First of all he looks; but the mere 
act of looking is not what constitutes the sin. He next thinks; but 
thinking of itself is not sin, but rather what he thinks about. He 
first sees the woman; then instead of thinking about her as a moral, 
spiritual or intellectual being, he thinks of her simply as a beautiful 



482 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

animal capable of producing in him sensations of pleasure, and 
immediately desires to experience those sensations and enjoy the 
consequent pleasure. This is lust and sin. It is the carnalization 
of sight and thought, if I may so express it, which always tends to 
degenerate the soul; whereas, spiritual and intellectual thought 
elevates it and makes it God-like. The desire for sexual intercourse 
is right at the proper time, and when associated with spiritual 
and exclusive love. Pure spiritualized love that is concentrated 
upon one person, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in evil works. 
It imparts an exalted and refined tone of feeling, purifies the actions, 
and lifts the soul far above whatsoever is gross and sensual. When 
a man starts on a journey to a distant city, it is very necessary that 
he should select the right road, or he may never get there; and it is 
just as important that the love-feeling should be properly awakened; 
for, if improperly and prematurely excited by bad sights, conversa- 
tion, or reading, it may eventually develop into a bad spirit instead 
of a good one. A little thing in the form of an obstruction on the 
hill or mountain side, has changed the course of great rivers. So 
there are many souls that might have taken a different course had 
not some immoral obstruction changed the current of their thoughts 
in early life; for like as the perpetual gliding stream forms the bed 
of the river, so perpetual evil thoughts mold and fix the character. 
I have seen boys in some of the disreputable streets of New 
York, standing in front of the low dens of infamy, eagerly gazing 
into the faces and bare bosoms of those polluted creatures, while 
they were trying their best to frighten or drive them away. Bad 
as these women were, they seemed to have more sense than the 
thoughtless mothers who allowed their boys to run the streets 
alone. Parents make a great ado about their girls, and seem to 
think if one of them goes out of the house after dark alone, her 
chastity is in great danger; whereas, the boys are frequently 
allowed to go and do just as they please. There is just where 
they make a mistake. Let all parents take care of the boys and 
young men, and keep them out of mischief; then they need not 
fret themselves about their daughters. The girls cannot do much 
harm to the boys, but the boys can do a good deal of harm to them. 
Young women are naturally retiring and modest (unless they aie 
flirts), but the young men are bold, cheeky and adventurous; and, 
therefore, need to be restrained and guarded quite as much, if not 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 483 

more, than the girls. Hence, it is easy to see how and why so 
many young lads become bad and develop into criminals when 
exposed to the powerful and constant temptations that abound in 
every large city. People need not wonder that so large a propor- 
tion of every generation turn out bad, and become a curse and 
burden to the country and their families. It would be a greater 
wonder if they did not. 

The next and final step in the complete development of a bad 
spirit is, evil companionship. Having listened to bad conversation, 
seen demoralizing pictures, or the wanton exhibition of the human 
form, and indulged in evil thoughts, there necessarily springs up a 
desire in the impassioned and excited soul for questionable society. 
There is a secret longing for the company of those who have 
thrown off moral restraint. When this point in the downward 
career of the wayward youth is reached, the voice of conscience is 
soon hushed; the timidity and backwardness with which he before 
committed sin soon passes away, and he emerges into the uncon- 
scious moral state of a free sinner; and then it is that he becomes 
in reality a bad spirit. Men and women may resist the temptation 
of evil thoughts, sights and conversation, but when in connection 
with or in addition to all these, there comes the direct influence of 
a wicked person, truly the net-work of sin is completely woven 
and fastened around the soul; and the power to resist is almost as 
feeble as that of the exhausted and struggling fly in the spider's 
web. Let no man boast of his moral strength, his will-power, and 
ability to stop when and where he pleases; to go thus far and no 
farther. Sin is a very deceptive thing, and a very dangerous toy 
to play with. It is something like the river Cheat, running down 
the Alleghany mountains: it looks in some places to be about three 
feet deep, but were you to jump in you would find it over your 
head. So it is with sin: it looks shallow, and appears harmless and 
innocent in some of its powers at least, but plunge in, my friend, 
and you will find it sufficiently deep and treacherous to drown your 
soul. You may flatter yourself that you have a mind of your own 
that no companion can control. Perhaps you have, but remember, 
like begets like; and when your taste is so perverted that you love 
what your wicked companion loves, you are unconsciously con- 
trolled, and under his influence just as long as you follow his ways, 
go where he goes, and do what he does. 



484 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

One incident will illustrate the powerful influence of evil asso- 
ciations. A beautiful young lady in Canada, had a brother who 
was a fast young man, and he of course had for his companions 
other fast young men; though the most of them, I presume, be- 
longed to nice families. As one acquaintance generally leads to 
another, the young man's sister, pure and lovely as she then was, 
became introduced into the society of the other fast young men, 
though she probably knew little of their motives or private charac- 
ters. Introductions led to acquaintanceship, and from that friend- 
ships were formed. Then came parties, evening walks, balls, etc., 
and the rest of her history I need not write. It was the old story 
of sin and shame and ruin. Here let the curtain drop upon the lost 
life of one who was once the joy of her home, the beautiful flower 
of the family, and the pride of her parents. The incident just 
related is a picture of what bad company does for young women, 
while young men are exposed to and led on not only to the same 
vice but to others of a kindred nature — for vices generally run in 
a sort of family. Drinking, gambling, and prostitution, with their 
accessories, such as horse-racing, theaters, pawn-shops, and sports 
in general, are a nest of evils all contributary to each other. Hence, 
the foolish young man who selects a bad spirit for a companion is 
pretty sure to be caught in one of these traps, and when caught in 
one is most likely to be led into another, till finally he acquires a 
taste or love for such evils and eventually becomes himself corrupt, 
and then a corrupter of others. 

Having noticed the causes that make bad spirits, it is hardly 
necessary to dwell on the birth and origin of good spirits; because 
in preventing the evil you must use the very means and principles 
that develop the good. If you ask me why I speak of the dark and 
objectionable side of human life and conduct, I answer, no individ- 
ual or community can avoid or exterminate evils without first know- 
ing of their existence and their nature. So long as people see these 
evils, and simply wink at them, dodge around or take no notice of 
them, just so long will they curse the human race. It is of no use 
for sensitive and over-modest people to hold up their self-righteous 
handkerchiefs to their moral noses and say, "I do not want to see, 
hear or know anything about such things." That is just what a 
large number of citizens do in regard to politics. They dislike the 
corruptions and vices of political parties, and the bull-dozing at 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 485 

elections, so they determine to have little or nothing to do with 
politics or politicians; and so leave the elections to be managed by 
the worst elements of society, who send men to the Legislature to 
make laws in their own interest. Thus do these over-nice but cold- 
hearted people leave the weeds of sin to grow up all around, and in 
the very midst of their pious flower-gardens, absorbing the light, 
warmth, and nutrition in themselves, and then wonder why many 
of their choicest plants and flowers wither and die. You may sow 
your seeds, water and care for your sensitive plants, day and night, 
but if you do not keep the weeds down and give the flowers a chance 
to grow, you will find your labor all in vain. You may send your 
sons and daughters to the best schools in the land, and keep them 
as ignorant as you please of bad people and their practices, and 
content yourself that they are growing up with good, bright, and 
noble spirits as many of them will, no doubt, while others, as history 
shows and every-day events prove, will hasten their gray haired 
parents in sorrow to the grave. Not knowing sin or its appearance, 
these young people allow the weeds of immorality to grow up in 
their souls. They cherish them and care for them tenderly, until 
good thoughts and resolutions give way to evil ones. 

Thus many a soul that might have grown up good, has grown 
up bad; because their exceedingly modest parents believed that 
ignorance was bliss. Well, if ignorance is bliss, why send young 
people to school at all? Oh! but you say, it is the good we want 
them to learn; only that and nothing more. Yes, but let me ask 
you, how in the name of common sense is a young man or woman, 
or a child, especially, to distinguish between good and evil? Many 
a child has eaten a poisonous plant and lost its life, which it would 
not have done had it known the dangerous character of the plant. 
Well, you say again, we will teach them the good and watch them 
that they do not come in contact with any thing or person that is 
bad. I reply, Nonsense; can you or anybody else watch every act, 
every step, and know everything about your child, by day and by 
night? You know that such a thing is impossible; and the best 
thing you can do for your children is to exercise the same common 
sense that every bird and animal in creation does for their young. 
Warn them of danger, teach them what and who is their enemy, 
and then rely upon their true manliness and womanliness, and the 
spirit of self-protection to save and not destroy themselves. Chil- 



486 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

dren are not fools (if some of their parents are), and when once 
thoroughly impressed with the fact that a certain thing or act is 
injurious, they will most likely keep clear of it; that is, if they 
know it from childhood up; but let them once get soiled with bad 
thoughts or habits, and of course you will have more difficulty in 
keeping them from sin. The best way to induce young folks to do 
what is right and abhor that which is evil, is to make them love 
you; for by so doing you win their confidence and obedience, and 
it would pain them to displease you; but if you seek to control 
them by making them chiefly fear you through a rigid, strict, 
long-faced-piety sort of training, they at once feel their liberty 
suppressed, and their obedience, if rendered, is that of slavery. 

I remember a seminary where both sexes attended, that was 
conducted on strict discipline style. Instead of putting the young 
folks on their dignity to act as ladies and gentlemen, they were 
treated as so many children incapable of taking care of themselves. 
Every night, or once a week, am not positive which, the girls were 
obliged to confess to the matron, or rather were expected to do 
so, whether they had been speaking to any gentleman, and what 
was the result of it. A few of them probably told the truth, but 
the sharp ones would not hesitate to tell what they call a white 
lie; because if a girl will flirt or break the rules, she will lie to get 
clear of punishment. So their system of discipline was a capital 
one to teach young people to lie; and if there had been more social 
freedom in that school the boys and girls would not have played 
post-office in the classes, by passing notes to each other right 
under the eyes of the teacher. As a rule, I think those schools 
that have the strictest government, have the most trouble; where 
reasonable liberty is curbed, there you have the most sly mischief. 
The boy or girl who learns to play sharp tricks at school, is being 
educated to play them — in a different way, perhaps — in after life. 
Nor is the evil remedied by educating the sexes separately; all the 
difference in that case is, that you have less of one kind of mischief 
and more of another. Like some seminary girls who went to see 
the Cotton Exposition, in Atlanta, Ga., and were prevented by the 
principal from having the kind of fun they wanted while at the 
hotel, and so got together in a quiet part of the hall and smoked 
cigarettes, rubbed their gums with snuff and spit around like so 
many men chewing tobacco. The married lady in the house, who 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 487 

related the fact to me, said they were snuff-dippers, and carried 
their outfit in their pockets: consisting of cigarettes, a box of 
snuff, and a small stick or piece of wood fringed out at one end, to 
serve as a sort of brush to rub the snuff around their gums with. 
Good spirits, then, are born and raised through good parents and 
the right kind of education. Bad spirits are born and raised through 
bad or ignorant parents, or defective or improper education. 

I shall now discuss the second division of this subject — the 
doings of good and bad spirits. Everything that lives in our world 
at least must work, or die of starvation. Nothing can exist without 
work of some kind, and this is particularly true of good and bad 
spirits. Inactivity belongs to dead things, not living, organized 
bodies or spirits. The devil works, and that continually; if he did 
not he would soon lose his hold on the human family; and all evil 
spirits are forever doing something to curse mankind. When the 
spirits of bad men and women can work iniquity no longer, and 
they pass from time into eternity, they leave their shadow of un- 
holy influence behind them. They have tainted the moral atmos- 
phere in which they lived with the effluvia of hell itself, and time 
alone can blot out the effect of their lives. The good spirits are 
the salt of the earth and the stars of the moral world. They reflect 
the light of him who is the light of the world, and thereby illumine 
the dark places of the earth. Their works go up before the creator 
as sweet-smelling savors, and " their ways are ways of pleasantness 
and all their paths are peace." In life, they scatter blessings and 
sunshine wherever they go; and after death, they leave an aroma 
of sweetness behind them which the rising generations inhale, that 
they may go forth and breathe the same spirit. The deeds of a 
good man are not confined to his present life; he leaves an influ- 
ence that will extend far and wide and go down to generations 
unborn. The fragrance of good spirits sweeten the souls of others 
and incites them to a noble life. It turns the world into a heaven 
of peace, joy and love; soothes the troubled heart, and instills a 
feeling of confidence and trust in others without which no soul can 
be happy. Bad spirits make men envious, distrustful, and hateful 
toward each other, and turns this fair earth into one grand theater 
of crime and misery. They make wounds which they never heal, 
and aching hearts which they never comfort. They set men at 
variance with one another, stir up strife, destroy the peace and 



488 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

happiness of families, beguile the youth, and lead astray the unsus- 
pecting. Theirs is but to do and die, regardless of the future and 
the rights of others; selfishness in them reigns supreme, and the 
pursuit of worldly pleasure, and the gratification of their passions 
and appetites is the one object of their lives. They live for self and 
self only; whereas, good spirits live for others as well as them- 
selves. Theirs is a life of self-denial and self-sacrifice; they keep 
down the animal nature that the spiritual may predominate. But 
the wicked keep in subjection the spiritual that the animal may 
predominate; the good aspire, the bad desire only, and the one 
loves what the other hates. Thus do their characters differ and 
their pathways diverge; the one leading up to life and happiness 
eternal; the other down to death and punishment. 

All spirits impress their true characters upon others. They 
cannot hide them because the magnetism of one person acts upon 
the magnetism of another, without any effort on the part of either. 
Through this subtle agency the mind of one person, be it good or 
bad, is brought into communication with the minds of others. 
Hence, it is not always necessary for any one to act or speak 
wickedly to impress it upon others, the very looks and thoughts 
are often sufficient to convey and reveal the general character. 

There are three ways of transmitting and evincing character, 
viz.: by action, voice and expression. The latter, particularly, 
manifesting the feelings, and the two former the thoughts; in other 
words, if I may make this metaphysical distinction, men and women 
express their thoughts, of whatever character they may be, either 
in conversation or by actions. But their feelings, which seem to 
spring into action before thought and are prompted by the physi- 
cal condition of the individual, are most readily and easily portrayed 
in the countenance. Some good people show their goodness in 
benevolent acts, others in kind words and pure, thoughtful conver- 
sation or talk; while a third class show it in their quiet but 
expressive and influential lives and books. On the other hand, the 
bad likewise have three ways of exhibiting their wickedness : by 
licentious actions, filthy conversation and insinuating or suggestive 
looks. The noble acts of men like George Peabody, Peter Cooper 
and Henry Bergh, will be remembered for generations after they 
have passed away, and their good deeds will likewise continue to 
bless humanity. So women like Florence Nightingale, Lucretia 




This face shows a good and pleasant ex- 
pression. The nose, which is considerably 
on the Grecian order, shows an aesthetical 
nature. The eyes express large soul, large 
capacity, and a frank, open, confiding na- 
ture. Note how well defined and clearly 
cut the eyelids are. 



^ 




This cut represents a mean and licen- 
tious-looking face. The expression is far 
from being pure, modest and innocent. Con- 
trast the expression of the eyes and mouth 
with those of the other engraving on this 
page. 




HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 489 

Mott and others have left through their commendable acts, not 
merely fragrant characters, but noble examples to all future gener- 
ations, and they stand out like brilliant fixed planets, winning the 
attention and admiration of the whole civilized world. These are 
the kind of men and women who make the world better, and to 
whom society is indebted; because they act as human elevators; 
they raise people out of their cold, narrow, selfish sphere up to a 
higher plane of moral life. They deny themselves, that they 
may live and labor for others and the God who made them, and in 
so doing they crush out selfishness, which is the fundamental prin- 
ciple of all sin; and there lies the secret of their power. 

A selfish nature may be influential and powerful for a time, but 
it does not last long. Selfish natures may make fortunes which 
rising generations often squander; for such persons seldom leave 
their money in a way to do much good. They generally hand it 
down to their family connections, their sons perhaps, who turn out 
to be fast young men, and run it through in a few years. Like a 
young man I once heard of who, having a fortune left him, found 
himself in possession of far more money than brains or common 
sense; and so to show off how flush he was in the presence of 
others, would take out a five-dollar bill to light his cigar with. I 
suppose I need not tell you he lived, as all such fools do, to see the 
day of want and destitution. How truly do riches take to them- 
selves wings and fly away when in the hands of such selfish, un- 
principled and Godless characters. Money always burns a hole in 
the pockets of bad spirits. Generous natures study how they can 
leave their money to do the most good, and the least harm; how 
they can throw in their mite to benefit the poor, and help to 
elevate the race; and when they die humanity allows them to rest in 
peace. Even thieves and body-snatchers have too much respect 
for them to violate the sanctity of their graves or tombs. But 
when a selfish, miserly man dies and leaves his money in a lump to 
two or three relatives, then come family contentions and law- 
suits, to which there is almost no end; and, perhaps, the evil spirits 
of speculating thieves dig up his carcass, and hide it away in the 
hope of a rich reward for its recovery. Nobody has any profound 
or reverential feelings of respect for the spirits, or even the bodies, 
of selfish, rich, worldly men, and when dead they are forgotten, or 
their names serve only as by-words of shame and reproach. That 



490 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

which is good will live forever; but that which is bad will pass 
away in its own corruption. Bad spirits are never contented unless 
they are into some mischief, either doing injury to others or them- 
selves. Good spirits are never so happy as when they are doing 
something to benefit mankind; "their delight is in the law. of the 
Lord, and in his law do they meditate day and night." The 
wicked are a law unto themselves; for they hate moral restraint 
above all things else. Free indulgence of the passions — eat, drink 
and be merry, the right to do as they please, and every man for 
himself, are some of their choicest mottoes. 

The line of distinction can be clearly drawn between the good 
and the bad. Yes, reader, you can figure it out for yourself math- 
ematically if you want to. Suppose there are forty faculties in 
your mind, and twenty-five of them you use in a normal and 
healthy manner, and they control the other fifteen; then your 
spirit on the whole is good, even though the fifteen may be im- 
properly used. If, however, the fifteen, or even ten, of your facul- 
ties are large and intensely active, bringing into subjection and 
controlling the twenty-five, which, though greater in number, may, 
nevertheless, be weaker in power, then your spirit is bad, and will 
take a downward instead of an upward course. We are not to 
blame for having passions. We would be of little use in this world, 
nor could the race be perpetuated without them; but we are to 
blame for allowing our passions to have the mastery over our con- 
science, will and intellect, and allowing ourselves to become the 
slaves of any passion, be it for money, women, drink, food, pleasure 
or anything else. We are to blame for allowing our minds to 
become unbalanced, whereby we develop odd and deformed char- 
acters, having diseased and unnatural appetites, which eat up the 
very soul itself. We are not responsible for the way we were born 
and brought into the world — for the bodies and characters our 
parents gave us. But we are responsible and accountable for the 
use we make of our bodies and the characters we develop in them 
by our thoughts and habits. 

Socrates had a low, coarse, passional nature, with a giant intel- 
lect. He had it in his power to allow his animal nature to control 
his intellect and make it minister to the gratification of his pas- 
sions; or to make his intellect hold in subjection and direct in 
the right channel, his passions. He wisely chose the latter, and 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 49 1 

blessed the world with his good qualities instead of evil; and the 
world in return has honored and blessed him with respectful re- 
membrance. 

Some one has said that every man is the architect of his own 
fortune. I certainly think that every man is the architect of his 
own character, and can make of himself just what he pleases as far 
as good and bad is concerned. It may be hard, up-hill work, 
especially at first, but where there is a will there is a way. And if 
a man will only persist, he will come out the victor in the end. As 
a rule a man is just as good as he wants to be. The builder may 
not be responsible for the quality or kind of material he has to 
build a house with, but he is responsible for the manner in which 
he puts it together. Every man has it in his power if he will, to 
improve and make more perfect and beautiful his soul and body, 
instead of degrading them. Among bad spirits we find two gen- 
eral classes — hot sinners and cold sinners. The former falls into 
vices that are licentious, passional and exciting; the latter into acts 
that are mean, selfish and retaliative. A few incidents will illus- 
trate both classes. Beginning with the cold or mean class: a 
widow and her two daughters, in Chicago, had rented two or three 
rooms in some block, for living purposes, and being poor, and strug- 
gling hard to get along, had rented some furniture, or what was 
the next thing to it, had bought it to be paid for in installments. 
If the monthly payments are not paid punctually, the owner can 
take the furniture away, leaving the purchaser to lose what he has 
already paid; just like foreclosing a mortgage on a house. Now, 
it happened in the course of time, that the widow incurred the dis- 
pleasure of some other woman in the building rooming next to her, 
who was very anxious to get her out of the place. So her feminine 
ingenuity devised a mean and contemptible way of doing it; for a 
woman is generally a woman's worst enemy when the fire of hatred 
has been once kindled. Learning that the widow and her daugh- 
ters were going to be out one morning, she put the poor woman's 
furniture out in the hall, and then hurried off to tell the storekeeper 
who had sold her the things, that she was packing up and going to 
leave, and that she intended to take the furniture with her. The 
furniture dealer went to the house, found the things in the hall, 
and of course believed the mean woman's story, and so took them 
away — leaving the poor widow homeless. No amount of talk or 



492 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

explanation would disabuse the man's mind of her intention to take 
the goods away. 

There is room for sympathy for a man or woman whose burning 
passion leads them into sin, and perhaps into the clutches of the 
law; but it seems to me to be the height of real deviltry, and so 
inexcusable, for any man or woman to deliberately take advantage 
of another unawares, and that in a mean, sneaking, underhanded 
way. Like another case I remember, where two men form the 
subject of illustration. They were partners; one furnishing the 
capital chiefly, the other experience in a business partly established. 
The moneyed man soon made up his mind that he would like to 
sell out, or get control of the whole thing himself, to neither of 
which propositions his partner would agree. Seeing no other way 
of breaking up the partnership (after consulting a lawyer as unprin- 
cipled as himself) he managed to have the rent run behind about a 
month, and then slyly and stealthily as a cat, went to the landlord 
and refused to pay any more rent so as to give him a pretext to 
issue a distress warrant for his rent, and thereby force the termi- 
nation of partnership or the selling out of the business. No good 
spirit would ever stoop to such a mean trick. One more illustra- 
tion of this class: A store-keeper finds himself in straitened cir- 
cumstances, and wants to raise or borrow a thousand dollars which 
he never intends to make any special effort or sacrifice to pay 
back. He knows a young man who has just started in business 
with a fair amount of capital to back him, which he had received 
from his parents, or could have by asking for it. But the question 
is, How shall he influence him to loan it without good security, 
which he could not give? He discovers that the young business 
man is fond of ladies; is good-natured, free and easy, with not very 
sharp business ideas, and below him in social circles. He also re- 
members that he has a young lady relative (daughter or niece, no 
matter which) in his store. So he gets her to be very pleasant and 
agreeable to him, receive his attentions, politely flatter him, and go 
with him to entertainments. The young man feels complimented; 
and the way to his heart and pocket-book is soon opened — he 
loans the thousand dollars; then the attentions and ardor of his 
lady-love soon cools, and he finds himself minus of both girl and 
money. I call such a trick as that, a regular confidence game of the 
worst and lowest kind on the part of the man, and a species of pros- 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 493 

titution on the part of the woman; for she prostituted her feminine 
charms and attentions for a base purpose, and that is about as bad, 
morally speaking, as prostituting her body. It was a trick artfully 
and deceitfully played through the combined wits of both man and 
woman upon an unsuspecting man; because he supposed the bor- 
rower was perfectly good, having wealthy relatives, and simply 
wished, as he represented, to be accommodated a short time. Well, 
it was a short time in one sense, for he failed soon afterwards. 

A young lady in California wishes to get back to her home in 
Pennsylvania, but neither she nor her relatives have the money 
necessary. She is acquainted with a young man in Pennsylvania 
of a good heart and unsuspecting nature, with whom she corres- 
ponds in a friendly way, and who thinks considerable of her, which 
she knows or soon finds out by the letters that are exchanged. 
She makes believe that she loves him, and he thinks his prospects 
for marriage good; but of course she does not like to travel all that 
way alone. Lovingly he goes to California after her, and brings 
her back at his own expense, only to find he has spent his time and 
money for nothing. She soon loves another or at any rate not him; 
she loved him just long enough to get home — mean, treacherous 
wretch ! These are some of the doings of the cold-hearted class 
of bad spirits, while those of the hot class are entirely of a dif- 
ferent nature — more immoral in the estimation of the world, and 
therefore held up to greater censure; though, after all, there is a 
secret love with a large number of people for the very sins they 
publicly denounce. If it were not so, scandals and light, trashy 
literature, to say nothing of the objectionable kind, would not find 
such a large class of readers, and such liberal patronage. While in 
Virginia one season, lecturing, I called on a clergyman who, during 
our conversation regarding light literature and the general taste of 
people, said : Some time ago a student who was preparing himself 
for the ministry, wished to make a little money during the vacation 
to help him along. So he started out to canvass for a good book, 
one of a high moral or religious character, among the members of 
the pastor's church and congregation. But he met with far more 
discouragement than encouragement; the lady and mother of one 
of the church families on whom he called, told him that she did not 
care about a dry book like that, but would willingly subscribe if he 
had been taking orders for the Police Gazette. She was more 



494 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

willing to read and introduce into the family a paper devoted to the 
interest of the fast and sporting- classes, than she was a good book. 
Nevertheless, if some day one of her daughters or sons should turn 
out bad, she will be unable to account for it — -would never have 
dreamt or thought of such a thing, and will get her neighbors and 
the whole church to pray for the conversion of the wayward child. 

It is the bad spirits that write smut on the walls and doors of 
public buildings. One can scarcely enter the halls of any public 
place, without seeing the walls scribbled over with the breathings 
of foul spirits, very often with rude attempts at poetry, and fre- 
quently accompanied with obscene drawings. I presume that is 
the only way some low specimens of humanity have of leaving 
their mark or name behind them. I have seen the walls of colleges, 
especially medical schools, most shockingly defaced with licen- 
tious writing, and yet these foul-mouthed, dirty brutes are being 
educated (or stuffed with text-book knowledge) to practice medi- 
cine in the homes of respectable families, to examine and attend 
the mothers and their daughters of whatever sphere of society they 
may chance to curse with their presence. And the faculties of 
many colleges seem to be quite indifferent as regards this species 
of immorality among the students; they look at it with one eye 
and wink at it with the other. In one college that I entered, 
which was devoted to general education, I noticed smut written on 
the bulletin-board in the most conspicuous place in the building, 
just inside of the front-door entrance, and immediately opposite 
the president's room. I called on him to see if I could arrange to 
lecture before the students. But he was one of those indifferent 
sort of individuals who never want anything that they really do 
want, and hence he coolly informed me that they had no place or 
time for any lectures. Still, I could not help thinking in my own 
mind, that both he and his students needed a lecture very badly 
on morals, if on no other subject. 

The men, boys and girls who write smut on walls, have licen- 
tious, corrupt and generally hot natures; and if teachers under- 
stood human nature and their business better than they do, they 
would try and form better characters, and instill pure thoughts and 
ideas into them, as well as cram their brains with a lot of theoreti- 
cal trash. But there are two difficulties in the way of teachers and 
professors doing what they ought to do. One is the universal 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 495 

prevalence of a false system of education which, to a great extent, 
leaves the morals and private thoughts and habits of the students 
and pupils uncared for; the other is, that some teachers are no 
better at heart, if as good, as their scholars. 

In one of the cities of New York, a piano-tuner was sent for to 
call at some house to tune a piano. On his arrival, he was asked 
by the lady, if he knew he was in a house of assignation, and 
whether it would make any difference? He replied, it would not; 
that he was there simply to attend to his business and get his 
money for it. While in conversation, a woman stepped 'in the side 
or hall door, and catching sight of him in the parlor, instantly 
turned and darted out or into another room; but the man recog- 
nized her at a glance. She was the teacher of his own daughter in 
a school just out of the city. Then to save herself, she threatened 
to blackmail the piano-tuner; but he politely told her that he could 
explain his business there, and unless she could do the same, she 
had better leave the school. The next day she left. 

It is true, that strong passions may sometimes make a man or 
woman do an indiscreet and improper thing; but they feel sorry 
and ashamed afterwards, and hardly come under the head of bad 
spirits. Others again are unprincipled, careless and indifferent as 
to the result or consequences of their actions, and are going about 
seeking whom they may devour to satisfy their lustful natures. These 
are the kind of teachers who care little for the moral culture of 
children, or even what they do. Some person who may chance to read 
these pages, may doubt my statement in reference to girls writing 
smut on the walls of buildings. All I have to say in reply is, that 
a principal of a public school told me that the worst writing he 
ever saw or read was written by two girls; for when it was discov- 
ered, it caused considerable excitement, and a thorough examina- 
tion and investigation was made which resulted in fixing the deed 
where it belonged; one of the girls, I believe, owned up. To sum 
up the future of those two girls: one of them turned out a prosti- 
tute, the other married a business man who was doing well, which 
undoubtedly saved her. Boys and girls have different ways of 
manifesting the evil spirit that lurks within them; each choosing a 
way and opportunity peculiar to their sex. Boys and men stand on 
the corners of the street, in the door-ways, and passage-ways of all 
public places, and wherever they can find a chance to cast their 



496 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

lascivious, brazen and impudent looks into the faces of the fair sex. 
At the churches they block up the sidewalk and door-ways, watch- 
ing the ladies coming down stairs; every good-looking or dressy 
woman is scrutinized from head to foot. Hence, with this class of 
young men the coming out of church is a regular show, which to 
them is the most interesting part of the religious services, and il 
you were to keep the women out of church, there would not be 
many men there. I remember three brazen young men who were 
standing at the street entrance of a commercial college. As I 
came down stairs, there were two young ladies about to ascend the 
stairs, and I saw that they were embarrassed, and hardly knew 
what to do, as their feminine instinct told them what the young 
men were waiting for. There they stood, laughing, staring and 
passing remarks as the girls ascended the stairs, demonstrating how 
much of the rowdy and how little of the true gentleman was in 
them. At picnics, this class of boys will most likely refrain from 
taking part in a general game between the sexes, and sneak around 
to some convenient spot where they can lie down and look at the 
girls, and feast their insinuating eyes on female charms; especially 
if the game is one where a girl might happen to tumble down or 
in some way expose her limbs. The presence, actions and influence 
of such boys are demoralizing, and they should be run off the picnic 
grounds; because, if there are any girls present like themselves, 
they are quick to take advantage of every opportunity, and act out 
their part of the deviltry. 

If, reader, you are anxious to know whether your spirit is good 
or bad, all you have to do is to examine your thoughts, feelings, 
desires and actions. And if you find yourself harboring and cher- 
ishing vile thoughts, and allowing your feelings to prompt unholy 
desires which constantly terminate in evil actions, whenever you 
have the opportunity to commit such acts; or, in other words, 
when you allow your impulses to evil to go unchecked, and cast 
aside the reins of moral and self control, then you may safely con- 
clude that you have a bad spirit. But if you discover yourself 
fighting against the natural temptation to evil which affects the 
human soul, and are always yearning after a higher and purer life, 
even though you may be troubled with bad thoughts and desires, 
and occasionally do evil, then you have a good spirit; not good in 
the sense of being pure and perfect, but good because you are 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 497 

trying to be good and do better. It is not so much the act that 
determines a man's guilt, as his intent, purpose and desire; so that 
the man whose desire and aim is to do good is, comparatively 
speaking, good; whereas, he whose purpose and efforts are to do 
evil, is bad, even though he may not do anything very wicked for 
the want of a favorable opportunity, or because of some restraining 
influence which he cannot counteract. The bad man is a law unto 
himself; the good man recognizes a higher law, to which he bows 
in submission and strives to obey. 

r There is yet another way of knowing and determining your 
moral or immoral state, and that is by the twin sciences, physiog- 
nomy and phrenology. This leads me to the third and last division 
of my subject — what or how good and bad spirits look; for each 
character or spirit has its appropriate facial expression, and they 
are no more alike than chalk is like cheese. Be not deceived; the 
language of the soul is clearly written in the face, but whether you 
are expert enough to read it or not, is another question. If you are 
not, allow me to ask you not to be so foolish as to deny the exist- 
ence of what you cannot see, read or understand; because that 
would be acting on the same principle as the atheist, who, because 
he cannot, through his limited knowledge, see, find out, or com- 
prehend the Almighty, conceitedly or egotistically but unreason- 
ably asserts there is no such being. There is no such thing as 
hiding life or character; as well try to vail the noonday sun. 
Whatever is, must be, and is made manifest in some way. Can you 
conceive of the existence of a thing without a place for it? And 
granting that character exists in the soul or spirit, then it must be 
made manifest somewhere; because the spirit has life and we cannot 
conceive of life without action; and inasmuch as the spirit is con- 
fined and exists, moves and acts in the body, is it not self-evident 
that the workings of the soul, the inner man, must be made mani- 
fest on the surface of the body, the outer man? For after all what 
is the body but the house or outer covering of the soul? I believe 
that every thought or motive is registered somewhere in the body, 
and further, I am inclined to believe that at the judgment day when 
everyone will be judged for the deeds done in the body, that the 
naked spirit or a manifestation of it through its accompanying body, 
will be the open book from which the Almighty will judge every 
soul; or in other words, that the character of every spirit will in 



498 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

some way be read by its respective physiognomy. Like begets 
like; and just as the character of the parents at the time of coition 
is transmitted to the child, so the character of the soul is transmit- 
ted by nerve-force and magnetism to the face. The brain, by 
means of nerves, has communication with every part of the body, 
and as thought is evolved by the workings of the brain, without 
which there is no thought, it stands to reason that the effect and 
influence of the operations of the brain will be registered and dis- 
cernible on the face, even more than on any other part of the body, 
because of its closer connection with the brain, and also because.it 
is partly the outer covering of the brain and designed to register 
its workings. 

A man's face, then, is the picture or likeness of his soul. In- 
stinct teaches that and everybody unconsciously admits it, else 
why look into the faces of our friends when conversing with them, 
especially their eyes, which are really the windows of the soul, for 
it to look out of and others to look into. If there is no mind or 
character in the face and eyes, why not look at and talk to the back 
of a man's head, or at his ear, for he would certainly hear much 
easier in that way? Again, if there is no character, no mind, no 
nothing, either good or bad expressed in the human face, why do 
people have preferences; why like one person at first sight and dis- 
like another; why trust one person and not another, and why is 
not a black man or an Indian, Chinaman or a Hottentot just as 
good, as lovable, and marriageable to a white man as any other? 
True, there is a difference in color, but their colors are in harmony 
with their respective characters; and, after all, the objection the 
white man has to the various races, respects not so much their color 
as their forms, looks and the character he immediately and instinc- 
tively associates with them. The question of color certainly could 
not form part of his objection, dislike, judgment or favoritism 
toward those of his own class, kindred or race. Hence, it is really 
the character of every person we meet that we are impressed by, 
and at once admire or despise. 

We shall attract and be attracted by those whose minds, tastes 
and characters are in harmony with our own. If we are good, we 
shall like the faces of those who are good, and dislike those who 
have bad expressions. If we are bad, we shall most likely have a 
secret, if not open admiration or love for those persons whose faces 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 499 

express that kind of wickedness which is a reflection of our own 
sins. For instance: a sensual, voluptuous and amorous person 
would be naturally attracted toward another of a similar nature; 
whereas, a refined, modest, and intelligent individual, would not 
only dislike such a person but also the facial expression of such a 
character; but love and admire those whose faces revealed charac- 
ters and minds like unto their own. A man's face never lies; his 
tongue may, because it is simply an organ of communication to 
verbally express ideas, but not character, whereas the face is just 
th,e opposite: it is a silent time-piece that tells the story of the 
inner life, and just as a man forms his character will he mold the 
form of his face and fix its expression; and in proportion as the 
character changes for the better or worse, so will the countenance 
be improved or injured, for the Bible says, "The countenance is a 
sign of the changing of the heart." Therefore, .when the heart 
grows wicked, rest assured that the face will share the same fate 
and soon tell the sad story; but when the heart becomes purified, 
it will cast that image upon the countenance, and make it more 
beautiful and lovely. On this principle, then, can we readily with 
practice and natural talent distinguish good spirits from bad 
spirits; for the facial expression of the two are just as diverse as 
their characters. How the face of Moses shone when he came down 
from the mountain after being in communion with his Maker. The 
spirit of God had so invigorated and electrified his spirit with 
heavenly influence, that it beamed through his eyes, and lit up his 
countenance with a divine halo that the Jews had never before seen. 
The face of the Almighty is so awfully grand, its expression so 
glorious, and its psychological effect so terribly penetrating, that 
the Lord could not permit Moses to behold his face; for said he, 
"No man can see my face and live." Hence, the good old patriarch 
was permitted to see only the trail or back part of Jehovah. And 
if the Christians of to-day, and especially the clergymen, were to 
live in closer and more constant communion with their Master, they 
would not only have better and purer-looking faces, but possess 
greater influence in winning souls to Christ. A spiritual and 
heavenly-minded face goes a long way in convincing the ungodly 
of the sincerity, of its owner, and the truthfulness of the doctrine 
he advocates. I would almost as soon see a monkey in a pulpit as 
one of these bare-faced, hair-shingled, fashionable and worldly- 



500 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

looking specimens of preachers, whose very looks are sufficient to 
keep men out of the kingdom of heaven, and in whose face one can 
plainly read, "I preach for pay." And in like manner do the faces 
of a large proportion of so-called Christians reveal their worldly- 
minded and hypocritical natures. What a contrast there must have 
been between the faces of Moses and Elijah and those of that class 
of Jews in the time of Christ, of whom it is said that ''He perceived 
their wickedness." Not through his divine knowledge, because 
that could hardly be called perception; but as a man, he looked into 
their faces and read their characters and motives. 

Different kinds of wickedness produce different kinds of facial 
expressions. A thief does not look or act just like a mean old 
miser; nor does a regular thief or miser look like a libertine or a 
drunkard. Each sin writes its own likeness on the countenance, 
and so does each virtue. Faith, Hope and Charity, each give a 
different expression to the face. Their language is not the same; 
each has a charm of its own that will help to beautify the face, but 
all combined will make the face more God-like and lovely. One 
kind of vice will also mar the face; but two or three vices in the 
same person will disfigure the countenance still more, and make it 
look devilish. And the man or woman, whether Christian or sin- 
ner, who wants to make me or anyone else believe that there is no 
difference in the expression on or through the face between virtue 
and vice, saint or sinner, may as well tell me that there is no differ- 
ence between the Devil and the Almighty; that the former looks 
just as good as the latter; that the angels of heaven would be just 
as pleased to look at the countenance of Satan as the Lord; in fact, 
that angels and fiends all look about alike anyhow; the only differ- 
ence being in character and place of residence. 

The existence of good and bad spirits in persons can be felt as 
well as seen. Any one with a sensitive nature, who makes use of 
and cultivates that sensibility, can discern by the mere presence of 
another person, to say nothing about the face, whether that indi- 
vidual has a good or evil nature. The impressibility and influence 
of one mind upon another is more powerful than most people sup- 
pose or imagine; and it is on this principle that the moral state of 
every spirit is made manifest, whether it be through the sense 
of sight or feeling; that is, whether we see it manifested through 
the face or feel it through nerve-force or sensation. Through the 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 501 

subtle agency of human electricity or magnetism every spirit throws 
off its emanations. Or, in other words, spirits breathe like bodies, 
and as we can smell the breath that emanates from the lungs 
(pretty bad in some persons) and thereby determine the condition 
of the physical life, which is in the blood, so through the nerve- 
force or electricity of the body we can feel and determine the health 
or moral life of the soul. This is where the majority of people 
make mistakes in judging of the character of strangers, and some- 
times acquaintances; yea, even their own relatives. They fail to 
feel and read these spirit emanations which are constantly passing 
from the body and flashing from the eyes; for, I wish the reader to 
remember, it is not simply the form of the features and face that I 
term physiognomy, but the cast of the countenance; that indes- 
cribable something that seems to dart like lightning from the eyes, 
particularly, and the face, as a whole, leaving its impress upon 
the mind of the observer. To illustrate: Two gentlemen in my 
travels have met me and requested the privilege of looking steadily 
into my eyes for a few seconds, which I granted; and from that 
brief but searching glance, they accurately described my character 
and physical condition. To give this art and method of reading 
character a distinct name, I suppose it would more properly come 
under the head of psychology than physiognomy, and it certainly 
does not belong to phrenology. 

Here, then, is the triune and triangular method of reading char- 
acter, through the combined systems of phrenology, physiognomy 
and psychology, which reduces it to a positive and accurate science. 
Phrenology is the lowest form or system of character reading, be- 
cause it deals only with the body or skull; though none the less 
important since it is the basis, the foundation of the whole man; it 
is the lowest only in position, in the same sense that the feet are 
the lowest members of the body. Physiognomy is a step higher, 
because it relates to the features with their accompanying expres- 
sions and therefore dovetails into phrenology and psychology, just 
the same as the trunk of the body is the central part connecting 
limbs and head. Psychology is the highest method, because it 
deals directly with the spirit, and is the only science through which 
one soul can commune, see and read the soul of another. The 
religion of Jesus Christ takes in this science of psychology, or is 
based upon this science, whichever way you choose to put it. In 



502 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

phrenology, we have three general divisions of the brain: the animal 
or lower organs; the intellectual organs, and the moral or spiritual; 
so in this perfect or eclectic science of character-reading. Phre- 
nology treats of man's physical condition and talents — that is, his 
health, temperaments and adaptation to a particular calling in life. 
Physiognomy reveals his disposition, cast of mind and texture, 
while psychology unfolds the moral state of the soul and its rela- 
tions to a higher and future life. What a science! How complete 
and far reaching, and who with as much brains as a Hottentot does 
not desire to know something about it ? 

I believe that each faculty of the mind has a psychological power 
which it emits through its appropriate organ in the brain. Just 
how the brain and nervous system throws off these mind emana- 
tions and impressions, I cannot tell, but, I have had sufficient proof, 
by way of experience, to know that it is done. Frequently I have 
found it almost impossible to speak with any degree of freedom 
or clearness when I have been lecturing to an audience, when one 
or more persons sitting near me were not in sympathy with me, 
but in their own minds working against me. Or if a portion of the 
audience were indifferent, restless and unsusceptible, so that I could 
not awaken any interest. It would be twice as hard to talk, and 
far more exhausting to my brain. I can talk two hours to a large, 
appreciative audience, that is thoroughly en rapport with me and my 
subject, with more ease and far greater effect than I can speak one 
hour to a small, inattentive and disrespectful audience. Nothing 
is so exhausting to a sensitive lecturer, as to speak to a whispering, 
restless, noisy going-in-and-out kind of an audience. No public 
speaker can be a success either in the pulpit or on the rostrum, 
unless he has the respectful and quiet attention of his audience, 
and their minds are working in harmony with his own, or at least 
are in a submissive condition. Nor can an audience receive much 
good from the speaker, unless they remain passive and allow him 
to be positive. That is why some men never receive much good 
from either lectures or sermons; they are too positive, conceited 
and self-opinionated, and therefore resist all impressions and influ- 
ence emanating from the speaker. Neither will the speaker have 
much influence over the minds and hearts of his hearers, unless he 
possesses a good degree of this psychological power; nor is a 
person deficient in it really fit to be a public speaker, especially a 




THE TRUE AND SPIRITUAL EYE. 

When the eyelids, especially the upper, are well defined, and retire under the eye- 
bone, leaving an open space as seen in this cut, there will generally be found a frank, 
sincere and refined nature, with an amorous disposition. The love feeling, however, will 
be spiritual and refined. But in the worldly, cunning eye shown below, which forms a 
contrast to this one, the love passion will be impure, gross and licentious. In some forms 
similar to the above eye, will be found a voluptuous nature, which, if not controlled, may 
lead to lust and dishonesty. The true character, as expressed by the eye, must be dis- 
cerned psychologically as well as physiognomically. No matter how beautiful and perfect 
the form of the eye may be, once the soul becomes corrupted the psychological expression 
of it will soon become impure; and so a badly formed eye may transmit a good expression 
if morality is developed in the soul. 




THE DECEITFUL, LYING EYE. 

An eye that has a fullness between the upper lid and brow, and in which there is not 
a distinct, well-defined lid as it recedes under the brow, will be found to be evasive and 
have a strong tendency to lie and deceive. There will also be a good deal of animal 
cunning — that shrewd, knowing disposition that enables persons to accomplish their 
purpose by a sort of maneuvering, evasive, dodging, tricky cast of mind. Animal cunning 
is the very opposite to a frank, spiritual and straightforward nature. It will take consid- 
erable moral training to prevent such an eye as the above from lying, if not from stealing. 
An irreligious, unprincipled, licentious nature is frequently found with this class of eyes. 
There seems to be a variety of eyes of this order, differing slightly in form, but possess- 
ing a similar chai-acter. 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 503 

minister. Psychological influence is the secret of many a great and 
successful man's power. The ability to warm, move and charm the 
hardened hearts of sin-stricken humanity, requires something more 
than a mere fine rhetorical and mechanical combination of words. 
The soul must speak to the soul, and heart touch heart, ere the will 
can be conquered, or the intellect convinced; and this indescribable 
power that draws, fascinates and subdues the hearts of an audience 
into a teachable and docile mood, is that subtle mind-influence 
which we see and feel radiating from the face and person of the 
speaker, or whomsoever we may come in contact with possessing 
a similar nature. I believe all persons possess some psychological 
power, be it ever so small, though they may not be conscious of it; 
others, however, know it, and use it to their advantage all through 
life. Like a lady who told me that she had often on entering a 
room where there were strangers, experienced a disagreeable 
influence or impression, and immediately turned and passed out 
without saying a word. Some few are a sort of psychological bat- 
tery that charge almost every person they come in contact with; 
especially those who are susceptible to that influence. And the 
psychological influence of a really great, good and heaven-born 
spirit, seems to permeate not only the hearts of the people and a 
community, but the very atmosphere, even after they are dead and 
buried. I mean they leave an influence behind them that does not 
soon pass away. The life and character of Roger Williams is felt 
in New England to-day; and so with hundreds of illustrious men 
and women of all ages and in all countries. But, alas ! that this 
same God-given power should be perverted and made to defeat its 
own object when used by wicked, bad, designing men and women; 
for many a bad spirit has this power as well as the good, and they 
are not long in discovering it either, and using it to accomplish 
their evil purposes and gratify their passions. I believe many a 
young woman has been tempted to sin, and led on to ruin, by some 
scoundrel possessing this power, and I positively believe that there 
are just such characters roaming about like hungry lions and scour- 
ing the country for the sole purpose of seducing young women; 
men who are probably sent out and backed in money by the keep- 
ers of houses of prostitution, as well as those who do it to gratify 
their own lust. And I also believe many an honest, upright young 
man has been in like manner led into the coils of a sharp, designing 



504 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

woman possessing this psychological power; so that he who was 
once the pride and joy of his parents and an ornament to society, 
has been compelled to flee to other and unknown parts of the world 
or find his way to the penitentiary. Even children are controlled 
very largely by psychological influence, and in some respects far 
more so than adults; and it is really the best and most successful 
means that one can use in their training and education. Blessed, 
happy children, ever ready to give and receive; confiding, cheerful, 
frolicsome and innocent natures ! Who, possessing as much or 
rather as little conscience as a heathen, could even seek to harm 
them? Yet there are some of the Devil's imps of both sexes, and 
souls polluted with lust and dyed with crime, who lie in wait for 
youthful virtue and innocence. I know that the hot passions of 
human nature, made hotter by the secret habits that both sexes 
fall into, may and do often produce a mental disorder or sort of 
insanity that may cause even good persons, in other respects, to 
corrupt or tempt the young; and I fear that many of the rapes 
committed, especially upon children, are by men who have become 
crazed with passion through the awful soul-destroying habit of self- 
abuse. But God pity the fiends and wretches who prowl around 
like cats in search of mice, seeking to corrupt and ruin the youth 
of the country, either by personal contact or by disseminating vile 
literature. A clergyman who had been connected with public 
schools, told me that they feared something was going on in the 
school of an immoral nature, and began an investigation; when they 
discovered that a number of the scholars were subscribers for an 
obscene illustrated paper, bad enough to excite the passions of 
every boy or girl in the school, and the way such things would get 
into a school would be by a female agent going through the school, 
taking orders for some spicy story-paper, and then picking out one or 
two girls of a voluptuous and licentious nature, make them special 
and private agents for the whole school. Such agents are generally 
sharp and good readers of human nature, so that they can readily 
pick out such boys and girls. In female seminaries this kind of 
literature has been introduced through circulars sent to the names 
published in the school catalogue. Young people exercise this 
psychological power also over one another; like in the case of a 
little girl whose parents I am acquainted with. A boy had been 
going out for walks with her to whom the father objected, and 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 505 

strictly forbade her going again, especially on a certain occasion. 
But the boy or young man came around, saw her at the gate, and 
after a few minutes' talk, persuaded the girl to go again. After she 
returned, her father gave her a good whipping, and asked her why 
she persisted in going when he had just told her and requested her 
not to go? "Well," said she, "papa, he asked me to go." "Well," 
said her father, "did I not ask you not to go, and how is it that you 
follow his wishes instead of mine? " "Why, because I could not help 
going; " and her father told me that he did not believe the girl could 
refuse him. I claim, therefore, that the psychological power of the 
soul is manifested or comes to us in two ways, viz.: by the sense of 
feeling, and the sense of sight. Thus, if two persons of a sensitive 
nature are sitting or standing near each other, the nature and influ- 
ence of each soul will be impressed upon the other; they can really 
feel the character of each other, and that is one reason why the 
spirit of attraction and repulsion often springs up between persons 
when perhaps not a word has passed from either; only that they 
have come near each other, perhaps accidentally or in some social 
capacity. 

I have noticed this frequently when traveling on the cars where 
circumstances have thrown me in close proximity to strangers of 
both sexes. Some I would never think of speaking to, unless for 
some special reason; while with others I would instantly feel a con- 
geniality of nature, that there was something pleasant, sociable and 
free in their manner, and would accordingly enter into conversation 
with them without the least difficulty. And this is the experience 
of a great many others as well as myself. But the sense of sight is the 
most ready and sure way of interpreting the nature and character 
of others, because the soul speaks through the eyes in unmistaka- 
ble signs, and the very thoughts and emotions are psychologically- 
written there, and it is chiefly by this means that people win 
and control one another. The teacher unconsciously controls the 
pupil by it; the business man his employes; the husband the wife; 
the wife the husband; the parent the child, and I am not sure but 
in some cases the child does the parents. By its magic power the 
good spirit wins and saves others, and by it also the bad allure and 
ruin the wayward and unsuspecting innocents. And this influence 
is simply character acting upon character; mind upon mind; spirit 
upon spirit. Like the case of a young man in a penitentiary, who 



506 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

could not be controlled by any officer in the building, nor could he 
even control himself. Finally, a new officer came in charge who 
subdued and completely controlled him, and did it purely by psy- 
chological influence. All he had to do was to look at him, when 
he would drop his head, and cover his eyes with his hands a few 
seconds. No character can influence another unless in some way 
manifested, as in the manner already described. Is it not self-evi- 
dent, then, that the character can be read and known through the 
face and nervous sensation or magnetic impressibility? Good 
spirits must then necessarily make a good expression or magnetic 
influence; and bad spirits a bad expression and influence, both of 
which can readily be seen and felt whether for good or evil on first 
approach, and thousands of people can bear testimony to this fact. 
When brought in social contact with some persons, I feel a pure 
influence and good inspiration; with others, I feel their influence is 
for evil and their society to me would be demoralizing. Such per- 
sons should be left severely alone, unless one has sufficient positive 
force to render them negative and harmless, and even then it is a 
dangerous experiment unless you are right in the pathway of duty. 
It has not been my aim or desire to give a list of the different 
kinds of bad spirits, nor to go too far into the details of their evil 
doings; because I do not consider it good for the moral health of 
individuals or the public to dwell too long or too much on the dark 
side of human nature — to become too familiar with its corruption 
— lest they become contaminated and poisoned thereby. Never- 
theless, it is absolutely necessary that we should all know what 
human nature is, its underlying principles — the desires of men's 
hearts, and the motives that actuate them — and the good and evil 
that exists in the world; else how can we distinguish between the 
two? How defend the right and oppose the wrong — how protect 
innocence from vice, in its various forms, if we do not know of its 
prevalence? And how can we choose our society, or know in whom 
to place confidence, if we cannot tell the good from the bad without 
waiting to find out by long, sad, and often too late, experience? 
We must, therefore, call to our assistance every legitimate means 
of reading character we know of. We cannot look directly into 
the naked heart or soul as the Almighty does, so we must do the 
next best thing — do as the doctors do when they cannot look 
inside of a living man to see what the matter is — examine the 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. <,°7 

outside of him to discover the symptoms of his malady. In like 
manner, we can discover from the outer man, symptoms of the 
moral condition of the inner man — the soul. But, like the doctors, 
we must understand our business; study and know exactly what 
certain signs, actions, looks, impressions, and influences mean, or 
we shall make sad mistakes, as thousands do every day of their 
lives. Bad spirits generally have a bad look to their eyes: a sort 
of dull, black or smutty appearance; not that clear, transparent, 
innocent look, we see in the faces and eyes of children. Not that 
we should expect to see in any adult the exact expression of a 
child; there will be more mind and character in the face of the 
former than in the latter, but there should be a pure expression 
that will produce a pure impression upon the mind of the observer. 
Be careful, however, that you do not confound the signs of a sick 
and diseased. body, with those of a diseased soul. Catarrh and a 
diseased liver will very much affect the color and expression of the 
eyes and their surroundings, and take away the clear and bright 
expression that belong to healthy eyes. But the expressions im- 
parted to the eyes by a sick body and a sin-sick soul are not the 
same by any means, and can readily be distinguished by an expe- 
rienced eye and a careful observer. The souls of good men and 
women so shine through their faces that their goodness and sin- 
cerity can be easily seen, read and felt. They give no uncertain 
signs, are not two-faced nor enigmatical, but have a plain, simple, 
frank and open countenance. Good spirits do not look nor act like 
cunning foxes, cats and wolves; they resemble more the innocent, 
harmless lamb, deer or rabbit; and the physiognomies of good and 
bad men are just as diverse as those of the two classes of animals 
I have just mentioned. And as the savage and cunning animals all 
have different faces, according as they differ in their propensities, 
so wicked men have different looks according to the kind of wick- 
edness and private sins they indulge in. And in like manner, as 
the good and docile animals also have diverse appearances, so will 
good people present different expressions of countenance, accord- 
ing to the good qualities and Christian graces that abound in their 
hearts and permeate their entire being. Thus, there is a diversity 
of good faces and looks, and a diversity of bad faces and looks; and 
it is for you and I, reader, to study them and know them for our own 
benefit and protection, both for this life and the life to come. 



508 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

There is a striking difference in the looks and manifestations of 
the same kind of wickedness or goodness in blondes or brunettes. 
Wickedness in the brunette presents a more bewildering, fascinating, 
insinuating and devilish expression, though often coy and reserved 
in its manifestations; whereas, in the blonde, it is more bold, open, 
brazen, voluptuous, dazzling, captivating and funny in its manifes- 
tations. The latter seems to please, tempt and allure, like the 
pleasures of a gay city. The former seems to take you by subtlety 
— to overpower by the silent force of its own passions — to stupefy 
and draw you within its deadly coil and grasp, as the serpent does 
its victim. In the bad brunette you will find more artfulness and 
treachery; in the blonde more secretiveness and common-place 
deceptions, full of little tricks and maneuvers, strategy, or policy 
if you please, to accomplish its purpose. In other words, the bru- 
nette is the deeper and more unfathomable in design, roguery and 
cunning; quicker and more repulsive in action; more spiteful and 
hateful, retaliative and revengeful; acting out the old motto: "An 
eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." The blonde is less passionate, 
less revengeful, but more shallow; and, therefore, in the end the 
most dangerous. The brunette being deeper and more subtle, and 
at the same time hot and impulsive, would naturally hold back part 
of the time in its manifestations of deviltry; while on other occa- 
sions, they may strike their deadly poisons instantly, their dark, 
forbidding appearance may make some afraid of them, and there- 
fore keep at a respectable or harmless distance. But the blonde 
being more open and inviting in expression, would draw the unsus- 
pecting victim closer; and being more cool and less demonstrative, 
would finally allure them into more deadly peril. 

I do not know a clearer or better way of illustrating the differ- 
ence between these two classes of wicked spirits, than by calling 
your attention to the difference in the manner and effect of the bite 
of rattlesnakes; the black and yellow rattlesnakes, corresponding 
to the brunette and blonde characters I have described. The 
black snake will shake its rattle but once and then bite, showing 
its hatefulness and impulsiveness; but the yellow snake, a colder 
and less impulsive nature, will shake twice before it bites, but the 
bite is more poisonous. And I would like to know if wicked spirits 
are not like rattlesnakes, biting and poisoning the victims who 
chance to cross their pathway, unless they speedily get out of the 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. $0$ 

way ? And to tell me it is not necessary for a young man or woman 
to be able to tell a good person from a bad person, is to tell me it 
does not matter about their knowing the difference in looks or 
character between a harmless milk-snake and a venomous rattle- 
snake; especially if they were living in regions where such reptiles 
abound. Another reason why wicked blondes are the most dan- 
gerous, is because of their excessive proneness to a gay, fast and 
merry life, and because they the more readily break down the 
barriers of modesty, self-control and restraint, that they may bask 
in the fields of wicked pleasure; hence, there are more blonde pros- 
titutes than brunettes. There is a difference also in the magnetism 
of blondes and brunettes. I consider the latter the most powerful, 
and with a wicked spirit the most irritating to one's mind and body, 
especially where that kind of magnetism does not emanate from a 
healthy body. I remember a young lady clerk I once had in my 
employ, of the brunette type, but not very healthy. She was a 
regular battery, and I could feel her presence in the room, and it 
produced in me through her bad magnetism, the most peculiar feel- 
ings I ever had; and her influence was irritating and bad, for she 
proved to be a bad or questionable character, and I afterwards 
discharged her. Her eyes were so fascinating that on one occasion 
when a lady and her husband called at my office on business, she 
got the woman mad with jealousy because she had drawn her hus- 
band out in conversation while waiting for her, and the remark her 
jealousy prompted her to make was, "that a young lady with such 
a pair of eyes as she has never ought to be in a reception room." 
The magnetism of a blonde is more soothing and healthy, and I 
think better adapted for healing purposes, especially when they are 
healthy and a little on the sandy complexion and pure in character; 
but of course the magnetism of no bad body or soul can be healthy 
or good in its influence. 

There are plenty of women whose voluptuous and amorous 
nature is so forcibly thrown off through their magnetism, that they 
excite the passions of men the moment they come near or in sight 
of them; and there are plenty of men who act the same way on 
women. 

There are other men and women whose influence over the op- 
posite sex is just the opposite, and a woman of this kind will always 
command the respectful behavior and reverence of men, wherever 



5IO HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

she goes among civilized people, and will restrain instead of excite 
the passions of men. One half the alleged insults and advances 
that men make toward women, is due to themselves; something in 
their manner, looks or magnetism, excites the men and causes them 
to think themselves safe in making such advances. 

Many women are so born and constituted that their sex-nature 
stands out conspicuously, and that is the first thing to attract the 
eye and attention of the observer, and not a few make it a study 
and practice to help the matter along. They resort to all the little 
arts, accomplishments and fascinations they can devise to keep 
their sex in front — bang their hair down to their eyebrows till they 
look like flirts and monkeys, in order to hide the intellect, and 
thereby heighten the charms of the amative and mere animal love- 
expression. Whereas, the true and noble woman whose character 
is lit up with intelligence and spirituality, keeps her sex behind, 
and impresses the observer with her brightness, goodness and 
golden graces, and thereby inspires him with purer sentiments than 
to think of her as a lump of nicely formed flesh or a mere machine 
to gratify his lust. Such women shine on men as angels of light 
and heavenly purity, refining their love and restraining their pas- 
sions. They command the attention and respect of men through 
their minds rather than their bodies (for there is sex in mind also), 
and do not let themselves down to the low and cunning tricks of 
common, fashionable and coquettish life. Happy day for the world, 
when the women rise to a more dignified and exalted standard of 
intelligence and spirituality; then, and not till then, will the men 
rise also, because women are our mothers. The stream cannot rise 
higher than its fountain-head. The men are what the women 
make them — they mold their characters before they are born. 

The chief distinction, then, in reference to magnetism or human 
electricity, that I would make between the dark and light or sandy 
complexioned people is, that in the sandy the magnetism is hotter, 
more healthy and soothing, and in the dark, more fascinating, pow- 
erful and sometimes irritable. There are also shades of difference 
in the characters of good blondes and brunettes. The good bru- 
nette's spirit is more positive in character than the other, and 
controls by power and psychological influence. The blonde wins 
and controls by its warmth, geniality, sociability and affability — 
it draws by gentleness and sweetness; the brunette by inherent 




c '" 



HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 5 1 1 

attraction and persuasive force, which it makes but little effort to 
impart. Personally considered, the brunette is the greatest sinner 
and the greatest saint. Her character is so deep, so powerful and 
so unfathomable, that when she sins she drinks deep of the cup of 
iniquity, and when a saint she climbs high up the ladder of piety 
and fame. 

I have thought how much the human family resembles the 
starry firmament; for as we lift our eyes and gaze into the heavens, 
we cannot but observe how each star sheds its own light (or it so 
appears to us), and how they all differ in size and brilliancy; so this 
earth is dotted all over with human souls, differing in capacity and 
power, and each imparting an individual influence. Then, again, 
each soul is a world in miniature, because made up of a number of 
faculties which differ in size or capacity, thus presenting a variety 
of characteristics; and I apprehend that each faculty through its 
appropriate organ in the brain, throws off its own nerve-force. 
Hence, whatever organs are the largest and most exercised will 
emit the strongest influence, and like as that organ is properly or 
improperly used by its faculty, will its influence be good or bad; 
and just in proportion as the most of the organs and faculties are 
rightly or wrongly used, that is, pure or impure in their actions and 
manifestations, will the expression of the eyes be good or bad; 
because, I believe all the faculties of the mind when active look out 
of the eyes or are expressed there, especially the affections, feelings 
and sentiments, though it may require an educated psychological 
vision, as it were, to read and detect their different meanings. 
There is no eye so pure, no expression so lovely, as that coming 
from a soul in constant communion with its Creator. No eye so 
insinuating, nor expression so wicked, as the one under the influ- 
ence of his Satanic Majesty. 

The spirits that are pure with God commune; 
Spirits that are vile with the Devil are in tune. 

I do not say or wish to be understood as asserting, that no souls 
are good except those who are Christians; nor that all professing 
Christians have good souls. A Christian is not saved by his own 
righteousness, but by his faith and obedience in and toward a Divine 
substitute. True, if he lives a consistent life, he will in time develop 
a good soul. So a man may be, generally speaking, good, though 



512 HUMAN SPIRITS, GOOD AND BAD. 

not a Christian; that is, good toward his neighbors, friends, and the 
world at large, though not good in his moral obligations toward his 
Maker. But the soul which has naturally good qualities, is large- 
hearted and disposed to live and do right; and in addition to all 
these inherited good qualities, lives in constant communion with 
its Creator, will be the sweetest, the purest and most angelic in its 
facial expression and psychological influence. Whereas, the soul 
that is conceived in lust and born in sin, and lives and indulges 
in lustful pleasures, if it grows and develops all through life, un- 
checked by any moral restraint or Divine influence, will write its 
blackened character upon the never-lying face, and psychologically 
impress its unholy and irritating influence upon all who come or 
pass within its range or circle. 




AN ACTRESS. 



A pretty face, but with more worldly than spiritual beauty. The large, open eyes 
express large and inherited soul capacity. Has the round, plump form and a lively, 
happy nature. The round-pointed nose indicates her to be peacefully inclined, and not a 
scolding disposition. 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL 



The Natural Desire for, and Love of, Beauty— Spoiled and Ugly Faces — Physical and 
Mental Beauty — Beauty More than Skin Deep — Power of Beauty — Wicked Beauty 
and True Beauty — Character and Beauty — The Mistake People make in Judging 
of Beauty — How the Human Countenance can be Changed — The Relation of the 
Face to the Mind — What Constitutes Perfect Beauty— Beauty of Flowers, their 
Influence on Home Life — The Relation of Light to Beauty — Cheerful Rooms- — 
Perverted use of Flowers and Objects of Beauty — The Development of a Spirit of 
Vanity— How to Become Beautiful — Influence of Beauty on Character — Grecian 
Beauty — Influence of the Passions on Beauty — The Chief Cause that Mars the 
Beauty of the Face — The Quickest Thing to Beautify the Expression — Powder and 
Paint: their Effect upon the Skin and Expression — Why Some are Ugly — The 
Cheeks of Babies — What Produces Beauty — Female Beauty Contrasted with Flowers 
— Education as Related to Beauty — Story of Indian Girls and the Influence of Ed- 
ucation upon their Faces — Piety as Related to Beauty — Fascinating and Seductive 
Beauty — Influence of Climate on Beauty — In What the Charms of Female Beauty 
Consist — Influence of Sight on the Mind and Face — Relation of Color, Form, 
Beauty and Character — Sweet Thoughts — Selfishness — Wealth — Sunlight and its 
Effect on the Face — Hope for the Homely— A Traveler who Visited Niagara Falls 
— Smiles — How Women Conquer the Hard Hearts of Men. 



Beauty, what art thou? Whence thy charm 

That all the world bows down to thee? 
We know thy power, yet fear no harm, 

But in thy favor fain would be. 

ALL persons possessing a fair share of intelligence and refine- 
ment, admire beautiful forms and physical perfection. And nearly 
everybody would like to be beautiful and so perfect themselves that 
they might awaken interest, and become the recipients of admira- 
tion and love. Cupid is never more powerful than when enthroned 
in a beautiful and perfect form. It is then that he commands and 
draws out spontaneous affection mingled with admiration. Then 
it is he becomes the object of peculiar interest — a magnet whose 
charm is irresistible. It is because I believe it to be in the power 
of every person to attain to a higher degree of perfection and 
beauty, that I write this chapter. 



514 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

The spoiled and miserable-looking faces that travelers and 
students of human nature meet wherever they roam, excite pity 
and indignation. Pity, because through ignorance people are ruin- 
ing their physiognomies little by little every day of their existence; 
and indignation, because of their carelessness and indifference re- 
garding the subject. Bad diet, bad habits and bad dispositions, 
make distorted and mean-looking faces; and the sooner people find 
this out, or practically understand it, the better it will be for their 
faces. Every man and woman owe it to society, as well as to 
themselves and the God who made them, to carry around as good 
looking faces as they possibly can. In ancient times, the Lacede- 
monians used to punish people for being fat; and I am not sure but 
it would be a little more sensible if there was a law at the present 
time to punish people for having objectionable and disagreeable 
faces, particularly where they make them so through their habits 
of life. A person can have a pleasant and even good-looking face 
without a fine bodily development; for there are lots of ladies with 
beautiful faces, who have poor figures, as far as the form of their 
bodies is concerned. 

The majority of writers on this subject, however, have confined 
themselves chiefly to the mere physiological and anatomical aspect 
of the question, overlooking the mental and moral bearing of the 
subject. They have pursued a similar line of discussion and fallen 
into the same blunder the ancient Greeks did, when they studied 
only physical perfection, and overlooked the intellectual and spir- 
itual impress upon their material forms, without which the highest 
and only perfect type of human beauty can never be obtained. 
Some writer has said that "The face of the Apollo was the clearest 
revelation of ancient moral beauty." So I propose to discuss in 
this chapter mental as well as physical beauty. Man is a compound 
being possessed of body and mind, and we must study and view 
him as such. It is to the face particularly, however, that I wish to 
direct the attention of the reader. There is where we must look 
for combined beauty — the physical and the mental. As Alexander 
Smith says: "-Men and women make their own beauty or ugliness. 
Bulwer speaks in one of his novels of a man 'who was uglier than 
he had any business to be;' and, if we could but read it, every 
human being carries his life in his face, and is good looking or the 
reverse, as that life has been good or evil. On our features the fine 
chisels of thought arid emotion are eternally at work." 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 5 1 5 

Beauty, Goodness and Happiness constitute a trinity which 
forms a sort of mental triangle, inasmuch as each side depends 
upon the other for its completeness and perfection. The old adage 
that "Beauty is only skin deep" is false, and decidedly injurious to 
the public mind. If it was true, what inducement would there be 
to try and be beautiful? Who wants to be beautiful if behind a 
beautiful face there is, as is generally supposed, deceit and wicked- 
ness ? It is quite evident to my mind, that the author of that 
statement, as well as those who adopt it and believe it, either have 
not a clear and correct idea of what constitutes beauty, or else do 
not analyze, scrutinize and look far enough into a person to discern 
whether they are beautiful or not. They merely scan the skin 
surface, but fail to penetrate the deeper expression of the eyes 
and mouth. 

There is a charm in pure, genuine beauty, which the soul cannot 
resist. It penetrates, touches and rouses the innermost chambers 
of the soul. There is a magnetism about it that enchants and 
draws, elevates and purifies all who come within its influence and 
are willing to be subject or passive to its molding power, for it is 
the very glory of heaven; and he who has no soul to appreciate the 
beautiful on earth, will need considerable renovating before he will 
be able to do so in the future paradise of beauty. Speak or think 
lightly of beauty! or tell me it is only skin deep! Look around, 
above and beneath you — there is beauty everywhere! Beauty in 
the flowers, beauty in the landscape, beauty in the fields, beauty in 
the woods, beauty in the heavens, beauty in the face, beauty in 
poetry, beauty in words, beauty in music, beauty in mathematical 
curves, beauty in nature, beauty in art, beauty in the very rocks, 
beauty everywhere, except in hell and on the faces of lost souls! 
A young lady once asked me what I thought Satan would look like 
if he were to appear in human form? I replied that I thought he 
would be the ugliest and most hideous-looking creature one could 
possibly imagine. She said she thought he would be the hand- 
somest man in the world. If her theory be correct, why did not 
Satan appear in his natural form and beauty to Eve in the Garden 
of Eden, instead of speaking through the serpent? Ah, reader! 
the devil was too wise to thrust his ugly-looking face before the 
gaze of innocent, beautiful Eve. It would have been a good thing 
for her and the whole human race if he had done so. There would 



5 l6 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

have been no forbidden fruit eaten; she would have been frightened 
out of the garden, or out of her senses. 

A thing of beauty fascinates, but an ugly object repels. Beauty 
refines and elevates the mind; ugliness degrades it. Satan might 
have been beautiful before he was cast out of heaven, but in the 
Fall he and his beauty undoubtedly disappeared. I can readily 
conceive that there is a kind of beauty peculiar to his Satanic 
Majesty, and also to a large number of his children or followers; 
and I can also conceive that there is another kind of beauty peculiar 
to heaven, to Jesus Christ and to his followers. In other words, 
there is a wicked or impure beauty', if I may so express it, and there 
is a beauty that is good and pure; the latter only is true beauty. 
Some savage animals and venomous reptiles have pretty skins and 
fascinating eyes, but on the whole we do not consider them objects 
of beauty. There is a mere physical beauty, and a spiritual beauty. 
The vegetable kingdom abounds with plants, flowers and fruits that 
are externally pretty, but internally full of deadly poison. Like- 
wise, there are thousands of people, evidently the children of the 
wicked one, whose faces contain a poisoning beauty. They are to 
some minds pretty; the physical form is nearly perfect, and the 
eyes are lit up with that kind of fascinating and alluring expression 
which captivates, wins and draws its victim on, in some cases to 
certain ruin, just as a serpent will charm and stupefy a bird, an 
animal, or even a man. 

I have sometimes thought we need not try to imagine what 
Satan looks like. If we but cast our eyes around us, we can plainly 
see his physiognomy pictured on his subjects; and just as one per- 
son changes his facial expression according to the different moods 
of mind he may be in, or the various faculties which are brought 
into action, so in the varied specimens of wickedness and wicked 
people we can see the numerous expressions of the enemy of our 
race. Nor need we wonder long concerning the physiognomy of 
Jesus Christ. His is the expression of purity, the perfection of 
beauty, and of character. We see it here and there radiating from 
the faces of his redeemed children. I remember a clergyman, dur- 
ing one of his discourses, referring to two other ministers of whom 
the people used to say "it was as good as a sermon to look into 
their faces," simply because they practiced what they preached, and 
their Christian life and character made itself manifest in their facial 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 517 

expressions. Their inner and outer lives were in perfect harmony. 
A tree will be known by its fruits, and the Bible says, " A man may 
be known by his look, and one that hath understanding by his 
countenance, when thou meetest him." A moral life, a moral face; 
a wicked life, a wicked countenance; a good life, and a pure facial 
expression. I remember another case of a young woman with 
rather a pretty face and eyes, which, when lit up in sprightly con- 
versation, presented a very fascinating and bewitching appearance, 
but when the mind and features, with their accompanying muscles, 
were at rest, there was a sort of lifeless and indifferent expression. 
This face presented, in both conditions, a mind and character 
totally unlike the two clergymen just referred to. 

The reason so many people think beauty is only skin deep, is 
because there are a large number of men and women with handsome 
faces that are wicked — even outcasts of society; but it was not 
their wickedness that made them beautiful. They were in early 
life moral, and from the day they turned aside from the ways of 
honesty and purity, their beauty began to fade, till in the course 
of time, what was once a sweet and lovely face, had been so marred 
by vice as to have lost nearly all trace of its original beauty. I 
care not how fair the face may be, let its possessor begin a life of 
dissipation, and time will soon make that face look like a plucked 
and withered flower. The magnificence of such cities as Jerusalem 
and Babylon, whose glory now shines upon us only through the dim 
pages of history, may in some degree serve to illustrate the terrible 
change that takes place in the beautiful faces of those men and 
women who throw aside the reins of self-control, let loose their 
passions, and plunge headlong into lives of crime. Perhaps, reader, 
you have heard the story of the artist who wanted to paint a 
picture representing beauty and innocence; and in order to find a 
subject, he traveled from village to village, and town to town, visit- 
ing the homes where happy childhood dwelt, and at last succeeded 
in finding a lovely youth that satisfied his mind and served as a 
model for his ideal. Many years passed away, when he determined 
to paint another picture which should illustrate crime, despair and 
remorse; but he did not visit pure and happy homes to find his 
subject on this occasion. He went to jails and penitentiaries, and 
at last discovered, behind the prison-bars of some gloomy cell, 
a miserable looking wretch, who he decided would answer his 



5 18 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

purpose. He painted the haggard, ugly-looking criminal's portrait, 
and learned afterwards that he was once the fine little boy whom 
he painted in childhood. Thus from one and the same person 
came two pictures — the first, beautiful and pure; the second, ugly 
and wicked. Do you ask what made the sad change in that man's 
countenance? I answer, the thoughts and habits of his life, in 
connection with a guilty, self-accusing conscience. 

The face is the outer covering of the soul, and reveals its inner 
workings just as the dial of a watch or clock. There is no peace to 
the wicked, and the troubled conscience and impassioned soul will 
just as surely leave their impress on the face, in unmistakable signs, 
as do the rocks and crust of the earth reveal the changes that have 
taken place in the natural world for ages past. Secret thoughts 
and secret habits leave their impress indelibly fixed upon the coun- 
tenance, until changed by counteracting influences. As a man 
thinketh, so will he be. His face will be the reflex of his mind; it 
will be formed by his character- — just as a lump of clay is shaped 
and fashioned by the will of the potter. In fact, the human face is 
a mental mirror, into which one can look and recognize the various 
passions of the soul as they come and go. The Christian graces 
tend to soften and impart an expression of ease, contentment and 
grace to the whole face; while the passions heighten the color, 
excite and infuse life, vigor, animation and general brightness. 
As long as the passions are pure, they add to the beauty of the 
individual, but when perverted and abused, they make him look 
like a fiend. 

It may be urged, by way of objection, that character and facial 
expression do not always harmonize; that there are many good- 
looking persons whose immorality is not discernible in their faces. 
I answer, that if sufficient time has elapsed for the muscles, nerves 
and electricity of the body to do its work, the character will be 
shown; though very few, with their present limited knowledge of 
the art of reading character, will be able to discern it. A star or 
planet may exist for a long time before its light reaches our globe. 
So wickedness may exist in the. soul for some time before it mani- 
fests itself externally, but sooner or later it will come out, just like 
insanity; at first, hardly expressed in the face, but in time, easily 
and clearly observed. On this principle I have several times de- 
tected and read in the faces of young people disappointed love, and 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 519 

when questioned upon the subject, they have acknowledged it. I 
could see it, because they had been brooding over their loss long 
enough for the troubled mind to leave its mark upon the face. 
Sometimes, however, the change of countenance will be almost 
simultaneous with a change of mind or character. The reader 
must distinguish between temporary and permanent changes in the 
face, as mere momentary expression is instantaneous with the fac- 
ulty that produces it, and will pass away and give place to another 
expression as soon as other faculties are brought into action. But 
a permanent change in the expression of the face requires time to 
produce it. The face and mind keep time in their important oper- 
ations and changes. It takes time to form and change character. 
A man may make a resolution to change his mind and purpose in 
a minute, but he does not change his nature in that space of time. 
A hardened and notorious sinner may be converted — that is, his 
heart and mind may be changed in a few minutes — but he will find 
his old nature is not changed, and he will have to constantly fight 
against his besetting sins, and subdue them, and the evil nature 
that prompts them, step by step, all through his Christian pilgrim- 
age. And just in proportion as the evil desires are subdued and 
his nature changes by the development of Christian graces, will his 
facial expression change and become purer, finer and more beautiful. 

The majority of people do not scrutinize and penetrate with 
their looks deep enough into the eyes and faces of those whose 
moral characters they wish to read; nor has every one the talent 
to do it, any more than every one has the talent to be a poet, 
orator, musician or mathematician. Still, far more have the talent 
than seem to be aware of it. Many might, with practice and study, 
read far more about others than they imagine. Many try to read 
without knowing how or where to look for certain signs of charac- 
ter; hence, make mistakes, and foolishly conclude there is nothing 
in physiognomy or phrenology, that it is all a humbug. Merely 
glancing at a person is not always sufficient. I remember a well- 
dressed and rather fine-looking man, being brought into the police 
court in Chicago one morning, charged with a crime I will not 
mention in these pages. His face at first sight appeared to many 
to contradict his character, but by carefully and closely peering into 
his eyes, one could see the impurity behind them that existed in 
the heart. So there are, apparently, many beautiful faces whose 



520 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

features will not bear close inspection by a skilled physiognomist 
or psychologist. 

I do not call that true beauty where I cannot see the expression 
that belongs to moral principle and the religious nature. Without 
that it is simply wicked beauty; and, in that sense, it is possible 
the devil may be good-looking, for I see a large number of his 
children with just such faces. They are wicked beauties; their 
ways are evil, their thoughts full of vanity and selfishness, and 
their aim in life is worthless to themselves and the world at large. 
Their faces and their lives correspond, and the one is no more beau- 
tiful than the other. Nor does it do one any good to admire such 
faces or that kind of beauty. Neither does it speak well for the 
character of the soul that seeks. after or falls in love with such 
beauty. 

No face can be perfectly beautiful by the force of features alone, 
any more than this earth, with all its natural scenery and varieties 
of productions, can be beautiful without the light of the sun. There 
must be a beautiful mind to shine through and light up the features 
and enhance the beauty thereof. Beauty is something like love — it 
ennobles and elevates the character and imparts a sort of inspiration 
and ambition toward a higher life. Lord Shaftesbury recognized 
this principle when he sought to elevate the poorer classes of 
England by introducing and advising the cultivation of window 
flower-gardens. Flowers, sweet flowers ! Who does not admire 
their beauty and fragrance, and who cannot through them look up 
by the eye of faith and see heaven's sweetest flower, the Rose of 
Sharon — the Lily of the Valley! A little girl lying sick in bed 
was visited by one of her classmates, who carried her a pretty little 
plant with one blossom on it. That, flower was the means of a 
wonderful change in that family, for it not only cheered the heart 
of the sick girl, but brought fresh air, sunshine and neatness into 
her room and the whole house. Before its arrival the room was 
dark and cheerless, the window curtained and covered with cobwebs, 
and the mother thinking the plant would thrive better if it had a 
little more sun and air (though it was strange she never seemed to 
think that was just what her sick child wanted), rolled the curtain 
up, cleared away the cobwebs, cleaned and raised the window. The 
plant flourished, and in the attention given to it, the room was 
gradually made more tasty, to harmonize with it. The husband 



HOW TO BE- BEAUTIFUL. 521 

caught the influence and commenced cleaning up also, until the 
whole house and family were changed in their mode of living, 
simply by the introduction of that sweet little flower. 

Thus, you see a love for the beautiful will elevate and enrich the 
soul with beautiful and practical ideas. Our Sabbath-school rooms 
should be made as light, tasty and cheerful as possible. In fact, all 
school-rooms^ should be well-lighted and ventilated, and the walls 
of an agreeable color. But, alas ! some people seem to think they 
can worship God and study his word better in a dark, dismal hole, 
that reminds one of a penitentiary, than in a cheerful church or 
school-room. I am not advocating artificial light, in the way of 
stained glass and all such nonsense. There is nothing better, nor 
as good, as the natural light of heaven, just as the Lord has given 
it, although ground glass may sometimes be necessary where there 
are buildings or scenes outside disagreeable to the eye. Nor do I 
advocate the placing of things in a church or school-room that have 
a tendency to draw the mind of the inmates away from the service, 
such as canary birds, fountains, and a lot of flowers, etc.; things 
put in merely for show. There is a time for everything, and a 
place for everything, and we can make things, of themselves beau- 
tiful and innocent, become to our minds an evil, simply by an 
improper use of them. Canaries are harmless, charming and inter- 
esting little creatures in their place, but it is not necessary to take 
half a dozen of them to church when there is to be a Sabbath- 
school concert or anniversary, and I saw that many in a church in 
Haverhill, Mass., one Sunday, and another church there had four 
bird cages; nor do I think it necessary for the pulpit to be nearly 
every Sabbath turned into a flower-garden. These things become 
mere show, and their tendency is to draw the mind away from the 
sacredness of the occasion as well as from the discourse. Fountains 
are very nice in parks and places of public resort and private pleas- 
ure gardens,- but out of place in churches and Sunday-school rooms. 
Objects of beauty and the cultivation of taste are quite in harmony 
with the development of religious character and spiritual life in 
the soul, but there is a right and a wrong way to develop all kinds 
of character. Hence, when we take things of beauty, that are in 
themselves pure and innocent, and place them where they do not 
belong, or make an improper use of them, they become to us injur- 
ious; and instead of cultivating beauty in our souls, they cause a 



522 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

spirit of vanity to spring up, which in time will show itself in the 
face, as it does in thousands of persons all around us. Our pure, 
innocent beauty is thus spoiled by being mixed with vanity. In 
other words, we become vain beauties; and that will be the kind of 
facial expression we shall carry around with us. And the reason I 
know that many things are improperly used in the way of tasty 
accessories, dress, etc., is not simply from a moral point of view, 
but because I see their effects in the human face. Because some 
things are nice and pretty in some places, and at certain times, it 
does not follow that they are in every place and on every occasion. 
A bishop stated he had heard of churches decorated with cut 
flowers that cost one hundred dollars, while the offertory alms in 
the same church rarely reached fifteen dollars, and less than fifty 
dollars constituted the sum total of its contributions to missions. 
Another church had one thousand dollars worth of decorations at 
Easter. Such enormous outlays in floral display are made chiefly 
to gratify the vanity of the wealthy members who attend these 
fashionable churches, and yet I venture to assert that if the risen 
Jesus was to appear on earth again and attend the Easter serviees 
in a church that had such an elaborate decoration of flowers, the 
very people who gave the most money for such purposes would 
hardly sit by the side of him, much less recognize him. 

We must learn to discriminate between propriety and impro- 
priety, harmony and discord, the appropriate and inappropriate. 
How to develop true beauty of body and soul, in connection with 
moral excellence, requires thought and a correct system of culture. 
We cannot grow up into a perfection of mental and physical har- 
mony unless we aim and plan to do so. To simply follow out our 
natural likes and dislikes would not be in all cases a safe guide. We 
shall need to practice self-denial and self-control, rather more than 
self-gratification. Weeds will spring up and grow in our fields 
and gardens without any effort on our part; but fruits and flowers 
we must plant, cultivate and care for. Men study natural laws and 
agricultural science in order to raise the best kinds of grain and 
vegetables, and to produce the best flavored and finest quality of 
fruits. We love to see fine-looking horses, sheep and cattle, and 
men pay particular attention to the raising of such; and so we must 
likewise study and apply the laws that pertain to the development 
of the beautiful and good in the human body and character. We 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 523 

are not likely to stumble into these things; we must study what 
we are about; know the laws of the mind so that we can work out 
and produce certain effects and results in character, just as the 
astronomer calculates mathematically the changes in the heavenly 
bodies. Human beings do not spring into life by mere chance or 
accident; their existence and characters are the result of the en- 
forcement and operations of physical and mental laws; and people 
should understand these laws just as much as an engineer should 
understand the mechanism of his engine. We should know just 
what tends to degenerate the mind or defile the body, that we may 
guard aganist it; just as the pilot must know every rock and dan- 
gerous place in the harbor, that he may guide his ship safe into 
port. To know, then, what is poison as well as food for both body 
and soul, is the great problem of life. "The Lord made man up- 
right, but he has sought out many inventions," and how to regain 
perfection of character is the study that excels all others as far as 
the glory of the sun excelleth that of the moon. 

He who loves the beautiful and pure, and has a soul to appreci- 
ate it, is not apt to fall into the cesspools of iniquity. He will be 
more likely to ascend than descend in the scale of humanity. For 
just as water will rise to its own level, so the soul will rise in char- 
acter to its level of admiration and delight, but no higher. The low, 
vicious men and women confined within the walls of our jails and 
penitentiaries are not noted for their aesthetical natures, neither 
are a vast number of the common, ignorant people that inhabit 
large portions of our cities and towns. Take such persons up the 
Hudson or down the Mississippi River, over the Rocky or Alle- 
ghany Mountains, or into the Yosemite Valley, and show them the 
delightful scenery, the tall, rugged cliffs, towering up in majestic 
grandeur, and the beauties of nature all around them, and they 
would neither perceive nor appreciate the romantic grandeur of 
earth's great panorama nor would one thrill of heaven-born joy 
pass through their common souls. Ask them to witness a lovely 
sunset; let them gaze on fleecy clouds of glory, lit up and tinged 
with gold and silver linings, so rich that the genius of the most 
skilled and exquisite artist cannot transfer and fix on canvas their 
passing beauty, and not one flash of ecstasy would for a moment 
change their facial expression. Away to the Niagara Falls, and ask 
them to view that wondrous and famous cataract, and while they 



524 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

behold the mighty waters rolling- on and leaping over the rocky 
precipice, peep into their eyes, and you will see only a curious gaze, 
and perhaps from their lips hear the query, "Wonder if there 
could not be a saw-mill put up there?" Or, perchance, they would 
feel something like a boy I saw once in a railroad car, while cross- 
ing the Alleghany Mountains. His father called his attention to a 
beautiful mountain top, but he had scarcely got his eyes fastened 
on it before he exclaimed, " Oh, my ! wouldn't I like to slide down 
that mountain ! I could just go down faster than a horse could 
gallop!" His idea of mountains was not as things of beauty and 
grandeur, but of utility. He, then, who has an eye for the beautiful, 
and delights in all that is lovely in nature, will feel himself com- 
pelled to look from nature up to nature's God. Ah! but you say, 
the history of the Greek nation upsets that doctrine. I answer, 
No. Beauty is something like a river; it will carry you either way, 
but if you want to find the source of the river, you must go up the 
stream; follow it the other way, it will lead you into the ocean. 
So, reader, you must go up the stream of beauty to find its source 
in the great Creator of heaven and earth. Follow its downward 
course, as the Greeks did, and it will lead you into an ocean of 
sin and shame. 

The Greek idea of beauty was mere physical perfection. They 
left out the moral and religious nature of man in their judgment 
of the beautiful and the perfect; hence, theirs was simply animal 
beauty. What they needed and what they failed in, was the con- 
ception of spiritual beauty.. So in our taste and criticisms of 
human beauty, we must combine the mental and spiritual with 
the physical. 

Beauty should be taken into the soul on the same principle that 
food is taken into the stomach. If we eat only sweet things, and 
that simply to gratify appetite or passion, we will soon ruin health 
and body; so, if we admire and seek after objects of beauty, merely 
through a spirit of selfish pleasure and gratification, it will become 
a snare, a curse instead of a blessing. Our souls will be corrupted, 
and we shall take a downward instead of an upward course. W T e 
can have too much of a good thing, as well as not enough; and we 
can take things in a wrong way, as well as in a right way. If we 
think to feast our souls on beauty all the time, until we are fairly 
intoxicated with its effects, we shall make a sad mistake; for its 




An American General, whose name I do not know — one of the early Indian fighters. 
Observe how high the fore part of the head is, ani its sloping toward the back, which 
indicates a sympathetic nature and strong liberal sentiments, that frequently incline a 
man to the Universalist or Unitarian belief. When the head is much higher in the rear 
than in the top part, the individual is more inclined to a set, stationary and orthodox form 
of religion; that is, providing he or she becomes religious. The whole face is expressive 
of kindness and goodness, with a fine and energetic mind. 



HOW TO EE BEAUTIFUL. 525 

influence will be demoralizing instead of elevating. It will weaken 
our minds and unfit them for the varied and every-day duties of life. 
The soul, like the body, wants and must have a diversity of food. 
We want plain things occasionally, and we must learn to take (at 
least in this life) the bitter with the sweet. How to form a perfect 
character is a great study. To have a character that will fit us for 
the duties and varied perplexities of this life, and at the same time 
give us a yearning desire for the pure, angelic life beyond the river, 
should be our constant aim. 

One thing very important in the use of beauty for the develop- 
ment of a higher character that shall be pure and innocent, is to 
distinguish between love and passion; though, of course, all love 
has more or less passion in it. Love without passion, if such a thing 
could be, would be soulless and not worth having; but in its pure 
state, it will be a sweet, agreeable and satisfying passion. But 
when it becomes excessive or perverted, it will impart a hungry, 
gnawing appetite to the soul, that will make it crave for gratifica- 
tion. In other words, improper passion for beauty will produce 
soul dyspepsia. Then, every object of beauty, especially human 
beauty, will excite and intensify that feeling, but never satisfy it. 
Such a taste or passion for the beautiful will lead a man or nation 
downwards, whereas, a keen, critical judgment and pure taste for 
the beautiful in nature and art, will protect public and private 
virtue, and prevent low and degrading associations. For when a 
person is in love with that which is pure, refining and beautiful, he 
will be disgusted at the very sight of whatever is unclean, vulgar, 
deformed, out of symmetry and low in nature. It will be just as 
repulsive to his spiritual sense as would any disagreeable smell, 
taste, sight, sound or feeling be to his physical senses. 

Self-control should be one of the strongest, if not the ruling 
trait, in man's character. He should learn and be taught in child- 
hood to control his thoughts, his desires, his feelings, his appetites 
and propensities. Much of the evil and dissipation of the present 
day that mars the beauty of faces may be traced to this very cause 
— too much indulgence and not enough restraint. Steam is a val- 
uable thing when it is regulated and controlled by the human will, 
but if an engineer was to turn on all the steam he had, and run his 
locomotive at full speed all the time, disaster to something would 
surely be the result. And yet that is about the way a large number 



526 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

of young and middle-aged people do in regard to public amusements 
and the ordinary frivolities of life. Whatever is amusing and pleas- 
ing to the taste and senses receives by far the largest amount of 
their attention. Their minds dwell on it too much; figuratively 
speaking, their mental stomachs seem to want nothing but honey; 
consequently, they become unbalanced in mind and character, and, 
as far as they are concerned, make but little if any progress in 
civilization. In fact, their course is downward rather than upward, 
and if it were not for another class of people who are constantly 
leading and directing the world in the way of life, the race would 
soon sink into the slough of iniquity. Now and then, here and 
there, some soul rises up, head and shoulders above his fellows, 
with a true conception of life. Fired with a noble ambition, he 
walks forth among the sons of men, armed with the spirit of self- 
control and self-reliance, and thus by raising himself into a higher 
state of manhood, he lifts up those around him, that all may meet 
in one common plane of brotherhood and civilization. We are not 
to blame for having passions; they were implanted in our nature 
for a good and wise purpose. The fact is, we would never do much, 
nor amount to much, if we had not passions to urge us on and keep 
us ever active. Nor are we to try and smother our passions, but 
rather control and direct them in the right channel. Nothing will 
spoil the physiognomies of people and impart a sort of fiendish look 
quicker than the yielding of body and soul to the gratification of 
passion. Nor will anything enrich, quicken and brighten the facial 
expression quicker or better than the proper exercise of holy 
passions. We can develop just what kind of character and facial 
expression we choose; that development being limited chiefly by 
our length of life and knowledge of the laws of our nature, mental 
and physical. We are not cast iron, as some seem to think we are, 
nor did the Lord create us according to the laws of the Medes and 
Persians. He has made us susceptible to change, and given us the 
power and privilege to fashion our own characters, and, to a certain 
extent mold our own bodies. 

How, then, can the race grow beautiful and perfect? That they 
need to live and act far different from what they do, is self-evident. 
Many persons are spoiling their faces every day, slowly but surely; 
and they seem to resort to every means of an artificial nature, 
rather than to the right and natural means. To be plain — powder 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 527 

and paint are not the proper things with which to improve facial 
beauty. They injure the skin, and really disfigure the face by ren- 
dering the contrast between the eyes and complexion too harsh 
and striking, and spoil the color of the face, which is an element 
of beauty. Besides, it is really a slovenly practice and a waste of 
time and labor. Powdering and painting is the most humbugging 
way of trying to be beautiful one can possibly conceive, and about 
as ridiculous as the adornments of wild Indians who put rings in 
the ends of their noses. Any person having eyes and an ordinary 
amount of perception can tell a painted or even a powdered face as 
far as he can see it, and all persons who resort to the injurious 
practice proclaim themselves to the world as insanely vain, their 
vanity exceeding their common sense. This chapter was first pub- 
lished in pamphlet form, but not two women in five hundred would 
buy it; they would glance at the title, make some conceited remark, 
laugh over it and pass on. They did not want to know anything 
about the physical and mental way of preserving and developing 
beauty, but if it had been a pamphlet describing the charming 
effects of some new cosmetic and how to daub it on their bleached 
and faded faces, they would most likely have bought them like hot 
cakes. A Chicago physician is reported as saying that twenty 
thousand people are being injured in that city by the use of face- 
powder and cosmetics. And yet, strange to say, the women will 
persist in rushing to the drug stores to buy this worse than worth- 
less stuff rather than learn and practice the less expensive, less 
troublesome and true art of beauty. Dwight says, ''No cosmetics, 
no arts of dress, no studied adjustment of light and shade, can 
adorn the human face or form like health. The perfection of all 
colors on earth is flesh color, which blends them all in one in the 
mortal face of an immortal, and the perfection of that is seen only 
in the rosy tint of health." Others spoil their faces by bad tempers, 
fretful, grumbling dispositions, fostering the spirit of vanity and 
selfishness, allowing themselves to be guilty of mean and unkind 
actions. Another class by frequently yielding to the temptations 
of the flesh and the world. And still another class, by bad eating, 
drinking and breathing bad air. Not a few are ugly because they 
are too lazy to work the ugliness out of them, and become good- 
looking by the healthy exercise of mind and body. Stagnant air and 
water are not good and sweet, neither are inactive minds and bodies. 



528 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

Thus, you see the agencies for robbing men and women of their 
beauty are many and varied. Whatever tends to unduly excite one 
or more faculties of the mind or organs of the body, and disturb its 
equilibrium, will more or less mar the beauty of the individual. 
The royal road to beauty is right living, right thinking and right 
acting. He who takes too much or too little, or the wrong kind of 
food into the stomach, need not expect to either acquire or retain 
a beautiful face, i have seen babies whose cheeks were so puffed 
out with over-eating or drinking of milk, that they looked like 
little bloated animals, and became so irritable that they filled the 
house with baby-music about half the time. There are those who 
are continually eating all kinds of trash, so as to keep their jaws 
going and gratify abnormal tastes and desires. These are they who 
eat poor and badly-cooked food, things that are fried and greased 
all over, which, in addition to coffee and tea, renders many persons 
bilious and sick most of their time, and, of course, injures their 
complexion and looks. The case of the Hebrew children mentioned 
in the Bible will illustrate this point. They lived on pulse (a sort 
of pea soup) and drank water, and were fairer and better-looking 
than they who fared sumptuously on the king's rich diet of meats 
and wines. Bad food and high, rich living do not produce beauti- 
ful faces. Pure, simple diet is always the best for both morals and 
beauty. Let those who want rosy cheeks and ruby lips, paint them 
with nature's hand — the pure air of heaven. That is the cheapest, 
simplest, most perfect and easiest applied of all the means I know 
of for heightening the carnations of facial beauty. Nothing so 
lovely, so sweet, so charming as the pure, fresh and natural color of 
a truly beautiful female face ! In fact, women are the sweetest and 
loveliest things of earth — providing their breath and disposition are 
sweet. Flowers are their only rivals; the chief difference, perhaps 
being that the beauty of flowers is innocent and passive, but that 
of women is magnetic and active. There is a fascination and a 
language to female beauty that no flower ever did or can possess. 
O, for the day when the fair sex will have truer conceptions of the 
nature of beauty! When they will seek to develop it by internal 
means, rather than by external application. Deep, copious breath- 
ing of pure air, day and night, is absolutely essential to a beautiful 
face and a healthy color, as well as plenty of sunlight. City belles 
are so afraid of a little sunlight that they take great precautions to 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 529 

prevent the direct luminous rays from falling upon their skin. 
Whereas, if their skin had a little more open air and sunlight, it 
would have a fresher and more transparent appearance, especially if 
they took a Turkish bath occasionally. A poor girl in London who 
received the first prize at the great World's Exhibition for the finest 
Geranium or Fuchsia, was asked by one of the judges how she raised 
it. "Why," said she, " I kept it in the sun all day, and as it moved 
around the house I carried it from one window to another." So a 
little more of the warmth, electricity and light of the sun would 
make many pale and death-like looking faces much more beautiful. 
As I look into people's faces, day after day, I see the want of both 
air and light in their complexions. The dry and almost colorless 
lips, with pale, wan countenances, tell a tale not easily mistaken; 
and all the artificial processes in the world will never supply the 
remedy. Alas ! how many thousands there are, as far as beauty 
and health are concerned, who are but whited sepulchres ! 

But physical form, or the mere force of features alone, will not 
produce beauty. There must be expression to shine through and 
light up the features; to put brilliancy and sunlight, as it were, into 
the faces, to give it a language and make it speak forth the charac- 
ter that is within or behind it. The kind of expression will depend 
upon the thoughts to a very great extent. Pure and refined 
thoughts are absolutely essential to the development of true beauty. 
The men or women who constantly hang licentious pictures on the 
walls of their imagination, or hold them up before the mental vision, 
will soon have them engraven on the face. That which you read, 
hear and think about most, will be the most strongly pictured in 
your face. If you cultivate a cheerful, happy, contented frame of 
mind, you will have that kind of look in your face; but if you are 
a sour, fretful, discontented soul, you will have a miserable, sour- 
looking face on you — one that will keep even your friends at a 
respectable distance from you. People cannot expect to win and 
draw others to them unless they have a charming face and winning 
manners and accomplishments. Nor can you have a truly beauti- 
ful face unless your thoughts are intelligent as well as pure. Take 
intellectual expression out of the face, and I care not how pretty 
the features or how good the thoughts may be, morally, it will be a 
sort of foolish beauty. I have in my possession two pictures of a 
group of Indian girls, who were educated at the Normal School at 



530 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

Hampton, Virginia (an institution doing a good work for the colored 
people and Indians under the efficient management of General Arm- 
strong); the one taken just as they entered the school, direct from 
their uncivilized state, and the other after they had been there two 
or three years. The marked change in the expression and beauty 
of the countenance is at once apparent. I regard education as a 
very important and indispensable means of beautifying the human 
countenance, especially the mouth and eyes. The refined and in- 
telligent class of people have more perfect and beautiful mouths and 
brighter looking eyes than the coarse and ignorant class. Contrast 
the faces and their respective expressions of the hard-worked, hog- 
fed and unintelligent class of farmers, with the bright, wide-awake 
and intelligent faces of the business and professional classes of a 
city, and you will readily perceive the vast difference that exists. 
An intelligent mind also helps to form a beautiful forehead, the fine 
and perfect modeling of which is so essential to a beautiful face. 
Again, you may have all the intellectual culture that the highest 
colleges in the land can give you, combined with pretty features, 
and if you are destitute of moral character, you will simply have an 
animal or worldly expression. There will be no spiritual life in 
your face. I will go still farther and assert that you may have the 
highest development of both moral and intellectual expression in 
the face, and yet not be very beautiful if the social part of your 
character is wanting. You would then only have a cold, bright, 
pure expression in your face. There would be no power in it to 
warm the hearts of others, to fascinate and draw out the affections. 
Your beauty would be about as cold, lifeless and powerless as a 
beautiful marble bust, and I have seen quite a number of just such 
women, beautiful but cold as a statue. My idea of true beauty then 
is, that it springs from the perfection of man's entire nature, physi- 
cal, moral, social and intellectual; and that the highest type of 
beauty belongs to the highest development of the spiritual nature. 
That is, the nearer a soul approaches its Maker, providing the in- 
tellectual and social nature is also well developed, the more lovely 
and beautiful will be the outward manifestations of that soul in the 
face. And this is why I know that the religion of Jesus Christ is 
the only true religion the world has ever seen. No other form of 
worship or system of morals will develop such a perfect and beauti- 
ful facial expression. No other system will so sanctify the heart 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 531 

and change man's entire nature and lift the soul up in such heav- 
enly ecstasy. Holy aspirations and the pouring- out of the soul in 
devout adoration of a Being far superior in every respect than 
ourselves, is the most elevating and beautifying of all influences 
brought to bear upon the human mind. Persons who have not a 
fair amount of the image of their Maker in them, cannot be called 
beautiful in the true sense of the term. I never saw the person, or 
the picture of a confirmed infidel, who was really handsome, unless 
you were to judge him or her by the Greek standard of beauty, 
which was simply physical development. 

Say not then that beauty is only skin deep, or that piety does not 
belong to it ! When some of the handsomest women in Israel were 
those who feared God the most, and in their wisdom and devotion 
saved their country, such as Judith, Esther and Susanna. 

"Honored be woman, she beams on the sight, 
Graceful and fair, like a being of light; 
Scatters around her wherever she strays 
Roses of bliss on our thorn-covered ways, 
Roses of paradise, fresh from above, 
To be gathered and twined in a garland of love." — Hood. 

I know there are some women whose beauty is like the sunny 
apples of Istkahar — all sweetness on one side, and all bitterness on 
the other. But as some French writer has said, "Beauty unaccom- 
panied by virtue is as a flower without perfume." Beauty combined 
with piety refines and elevates the soul. But ungodly beauty seems 
to intoxicate and allure men into the by-ways of sin and folly; it 
acts on them something like the strength of the nutmeg upon the 
birds of paradise, that come in flights from the Southern Isles to 
India at the nutmeg season, and become so intoxicated that they 
fall dead drunk to the earth. So many a man has fallen, as it were, 
dead drunk to the earth, or from a high to a low position, through 
the intoxicating influence of wicked beauty. That beauty which 
springs from a sanctified soul, and which is enduring in its charac- 
ter, is the only kind man should admire and extol. And my idea 
is, that the Lord should be worshiped as a god of beauty as well 
as a god of love, righteousness and justice. Then men would have 
more exalted ideas of the purity and glory of Jehovah's character 
and person. Just in proportion as the sense and love of the beau- 
tiful and pure is developed in people, will they be disgusted with 



532 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

sin, which is only a short name for moral filth. Tasty people, those 
with the sesthetical nature, do not like dirty, slovenly houses to live 
in; they like carpeted rooms, beautiful pictures and furniture. So 
when the soul loves and yearns after that which is lovely and beau- 
tiful in heaven and in earth, it will never be satisfied till it finds it, 
and will hate and loathe everything that is corrupt and impure. 
The great love which the Greeks had for art was partly if not en- 
tirely, due to their religion. They worshiped in graceful acts the 
personified virtue as pictured to their imagination in the statue of 
Venus, the goddess of beauty. They made a mistake, however, in 
trying to worship an attribute of the Deity in a human form made 
by their own hands; hence, it degraded them; their standard or 
object of worship was too low. To elevate our character and 
purify our taste, we must worship in a direct manner a Being 
higher and superior to ourselves. 

There is no doubt, in my mind, but climate and other physical 
conditions have a wonderful influence in molding human beauty; 
the mild climate and sunny skies of Greece had much to do in 
forming human character and beauty; though it is said the men of 
Greece were more beautiful than the women. But I recognize the 
faculties of the mind as the chief agency in the formation and 
development of beauty. Our minds are impressed by everything 
around us, through our physical senses. Through the organs of 
vision we are enabled to take cognizance of all that is beautiful in 
nature; and that faculty which loves and appreciates the beautiful 
in nature and art, is stimulated to activity, and its influence beau- 
tifies the body and refines the soul. Hence, the way to be beautiful 
is to see beauty and surround ourselves, as much as possible, with 
everything that is lovely. Make our homes tasty inside and out, 
and adorn the walls with beautiful pictures. Why, I would have a 
pretty picture to look at if I had to go and buy a ten-cent chromo; 
and yet, I have gone into homes where there was scarcely a picture 
to be seen, or anything else that was pretty. I remember going to 
a boarding-house on one occasion, to stop for a short time, while 
traveling; it had been recommended to me as a first-class place, 
but I soon discovered there were no pictures on the walls, and 
there seemed to be a lack of something about the house, so much 
so that I did not feel at home. I remained about a day and a half, 
and left; for I found there was not only an absence of pictures, but 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 533 

also a lack of good things to eat. And I never like to stop at any 
house, when on looking around as I first enter, the place does not 
appear and feel home-like, congenial and tasty; for a man's home- 
life consists in something more than a roof over his head and a bed 
to sleep on. He should have something to satisfy and cultivate his 
taste — something to feed the mind as well as the stomach. "A 
thing of beauty is a joy forever." Certain it is, that the recollection 
of a beautiful face, picture or scene, fills the mind with agreeable 
emotions, which serve as an antidote for the many thoughts and 
sights of a less pleasing nature. The sight of whatsoever is lovely 
sends a thrill of joy through the soul long to be remembered, and 
has a strong influence in molding and developing our characters. 

Beautiful faces all beaming with love, 
Gladden our spirits wherever we rove; 
Homes that are beautiful, cheerful and bright, 
Will shed in our hearts the sweetest delight. 

I question if there is anything that has a stronger influence on 
the mind, for good or evil, than what we see; for the simple reason 
that we are constantly thinking about these sights, even when they 
are not before our eyes. We think about what we see and hear, 
and we become like unto what we think about most. Hence, I 
claim that if we want to retain or improve our own beauty, we 
must look at, study and think about all we can that is good and 
beautiful. A momentary glance is not sufficient; we must let 
pleasurable sights dwell upon the mind; we must meditate on them 
and give them a chance to permeate into the depths of the soul 
and become a part of our nature. The mistake that most people 
make is, that they pass too rapidly from sight to sight and thought 
to thought; like thousands I have noticed in Expositions, who pass 
along the aisles and galleries hurriedly, and with eagle eyes seem 
to take in everything at a glance, but really see next to nothing; 
they are too impatient for their own good. Like two well-dressed 
ladies, who entered the art building at the Atlanta Exposition, 
where there was enough to occupy their attention for at least half 
a day, but who went through the entire building, up stairs and 
down, in less than half an hour. A beautiful picture is not pro- 
duced by two or three daubs of the brush, nor is a beautiful face and 
character formed in a few weeks and by a few efforts; it requires 
time, patience, perseverance and systematic training. And even 



534 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

if the changes should not be very marked in one's own face, it will 
be clearly stamped upon his children. 

One great test of genuine and natural beauty is, that it will 
always bear close and critical inspection; the nearer you get to it 
the sweeter it is, and the more it charms and captivates; whereas, 
the language of false and artificial beauty is: "Distance lends en- 
chantment." The charms of female beauty lie chiefly in a strong 
development of pure, spiritual life and nature, which makes the 
eyes lustrous and magnetic, and lights up the whole face with a 
bright expression, gives persuasive power to the character, and im- 
parts grace to every act. That is the kind of beauty that touches 
the soul, darts like an arrow through the heart and makes love its 
captive. And this spiritual nature can only be acquired by the 
development of spirit life in and through the spiritual faculties; and 
moral and spiritual beauty is associated with a head and face that 
is pyriform or egg-shape in appearance; though it does not follow 
that every pyriform face has spiritual or the highest type of beauty. 
Other essential qualities to female loveliness is a clear, healthy skin, 
fine, soft hair, proportionately-formed features, and large, bright, 
expressive eyes; and the way to have a clear skin is to keep the 
blood pure, and use a moderate amount of plain, wholesome food, 
with plenty of pure air and bathing. One thing very essential to 
a beautiful eye is, perfect clearness in the white and iris, which is 
partly dependent upon the condition of the liver and general health. 
The Baltimore ladies, justly celebrated for their beauty, are very 
temperate and regular in their habits, and their skin is as clear and 
soft as a child's. I am inclined to think, however, that the beauty 
of Baltimoreans is due chiefly to location and climatic influences. 
If you want a nice head of hair, keep all kinds of grease away from 
it, and use a good brush and soft water. It would be just as sensi- 
ble (and perhaps more so) to oil and grease your face and body all 
over, as your hair. And if you want regular and proportionate 
features, you must strive to have a character that is proportionate 
in all its parts. Let the moral, social and intellectual be all prop- 
erly and equally exercised. Perfect faces and perfect characters go 
together. It is also necessary that we should have plenty of sleep 
and rest, be regular in all our habits, if we wish to be beautiful. 
Sleepless nights and dissipating habits bring care-worn and harsh- 
looking faces; whatever tends to interfere with health mars facial 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 535 

beauty. A sound mind in a healthy body is absolutely essential to 
a beautiful expression. 

Everything must have its appropriate form. The human form 
would not be suitable for a house or a piece of furniture; nor would 
the form of a horse or any other animal be suitable to man. Flowers, 
trees, fruits, animals and persons are distinguished from each other 
chiefly by their forms. Mathematical curves and principles enter 
largely into the structure of the human form. Curves are more 
graceful and appropriate to beautiful forms than straight lines and 
angles; hence curves abound more in the human form than straight 
lines. Color is also another important element in distinguishing 
things and beings, and improving their beauty. The glory of 
flowers would not be half so great were it not for the combination 
and harmony of colors. Form, color and character are inseparably 
connected. A beautiful face must have a beautiful form, and a 
beautiful and perfect form is the result of curved and graceful 
lines, and harmony, or equal proportion in the measurement of all 
parts of the face. To illustrate: if the face is proportionate in all 
its parts, the nose should be one third of the length from the point 
of the chin to the top of the forehead, where the hair meets; but 
if the nose should be nearly one half of the length, then it would 
be out of proportion with the other parts of the face; and the form 
of such a face would be neither perfect nor beautiful, and the char- 
acter would be just as much out of balance as the form would be out 
of proportion. If the lines and curves in the face were irregular, 
then the outline of the face would be too angular to be graceful 
and beautiful in form; and the character, though it might be strong, 
would have some sharp points or oddities to it, and lack that ease, 
smoothness and grace that would render it agreeable and charming. 
The way to have all parts of the face in happy proportion, is to 
have all parts of the character, moral, social and intellectual, evenly 
developed. Form, however, has very little to do with expression; 
that depends more on the spirit that inhabits the body, and shines 
through, or lights up the face, especially the eyes; hence, a beautiful 
expression must have a beautiful spirit to impart it. Physical beauty 
is produced by form, color and expression. Soul beauty by the 
normal and healthful activity of the intellectual, spiritual and social 
faculties. Expression is the external manifestation of soul beauty 
in the face, and the connecting link of physical and spiritual beauty. 



536 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

Physical beauty, I presume, is or may be produced by physical 
causes, and soul beauty through the operation of the mind; and 
when the producing causes in both are perfect and properly com- 
bined, then you have perfect beauty. 

The mass of people seem to go through life utterly regardless 
of the habits of life and modes of thought that tend to produce 
lovely faces; and it does seem strange that human beings should 
resort to so many artificial means to enhance their beauty. The 
best cosmetics in the world are those which the God of nature 
has furnished, and which can be had without money and without 
price. Pure bodies, pure minds and sweet dispositions make 
pure and sweet facial expressions, whereas violent passions, and 
all kinds of mental suffering and physical derangement or pain 
tend to depress the spirit and thereby bleach the cheek and im- 
part to the whole face a haggard, forbidding and ugly expression. 
This idea was forcibly impressed upon my mind while passing 
through the Michigan penitentiary, and looking into the faces of 
noted criminals, especially murderers. I noticed that nearly every 
murderer had a petulant, irritable and quick-tempered disposition. 
Bad tempers, bad stomachs and bad blood make bad-looking faces. 
Contentment and sweetness of temper are very essential things to 
good-looking faces. A sour, dissatisfied state of mind will make a 
facial expression so sour that it almost turns others sour to look at 
it. Sweet thoughts produce pleasing impressions upon the mind, 
which are transmitted to the face, just as sweet things are agreeable 
to the sense of taste. But as the stomach will not bear too much 
sweetness, neither can the mind. Nothing but sweet thoughts 
would throw the mind out of balance, and though the expression 
may be sweet, there would be a lack of intelligent character in it. 
It would be a pretty but meaningless face. Sweet thoughts, tender 
feelings and pure desires must, like steel, be tempered with heart 
impulse and intellectual strength, to make them worth anything, 
or to produce that kind of beauty in the face worth admiring; but 
of all the cosmetics or influences that help to make a sweet, beau- 
tiful and fascinating face, there is nothing that surpasses or even 
equals love. That is the most refining, elevating and ennobling 
power of the soul in its effects upon the face. It imparts a softness, 
sweetness and magnetism to the countenance that nothing else can. 
Whereas hate produces a wild, savage, fiendish expression. A 




This may be considered a modified form of the Grecian nose. The original Grecian 
nose comes from or resembles the Egyptian, and differs chiefly from this in that it forms a 
straight line with the forehead; whereas, in the above cut, there is a break or depression 
between the upper part of the nose and the frontal sinus, which makes it more graceful 
and beautiful. An sesthetical nature is generally found with the above form of nose, and 
is what I consider a perfect form for the female nose. The accompanying eye is also 
beautiful and modest in its expression. 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 537 

whole-souled, generous nature is also essential to a beautiful face. 
Selfishness produces the worst kind of ugliness; it so cramps and 
belittles the soul that it leaves a sort of small, pinched-up, poverty- 
stricken and soul-deserted appearance to the face. Misers, hermits, 
stingy, grasping and close-fisted people have about the meanest 
and ugliest looking faces of any class I know of. Wealthy persons 
(I mean those who have made themselves) are not generally hand- 
some, in fact, it is next to impossible for them to be so, because 
the selfish propensities with the intellect in subjection are those 
that make or acquire wealth; whereas, it is the intellectual and 
moral sentiments, with the social nature and certain physical 
causes, that produce beauty, and when the former are chiefly exer- 
cised, as they are in money making, then the development of the 
latter is neglected; hence selfishness and ugliness reign supreme. 
Money will buy a good many things and privileges, but it will never 
buy a beautiful face or character; that must be inherited or devel- 
oped, just the same as any physical condition or talent. I read 
an interesting article in some eastern paper about Newport, in 
which it referred to an English nobleman, if I remember right, who 
lived there in the early settlement of the country. He was rich 
but ugly, and on one occasion, when he was giving a dinner or sup- 
per to a number of friends, he made the remark at the table that 
" money would buy anything." One of the party, however, did not 
exactly agree with him, and so he wrote and put in a conspicuous 
place, where he could see it, the following words : 

"All the money in the place 
Won't buy old Melburn a handsome face." 

Although in the accumulation of wealth men do not grow beau- 
tiful, yet the surroundings of rich men's homes tend to produce 
beauty in their children, chiefly through their influence upon the 
wife and mother, and partly by their direct influence upon the 
minds of the children as they grow up in the midst of beauty and 
luxury; for beautiful pictures, furniture, carpets, houses, gardens, 
lawns, fountains, flowers, etc., will leave a lasting and molding in- 
fluence upon the minds and hearts of young people. And as like 
produces like, so the constant sight of pretty things tends to pro- 
duce pretty faces and refined natures. For this reason city life is 
more conducive to beauty than country life, because of the many 



538 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

beautiful buildings, stores, parks, etc., which constantly attract and 
delight the eyes. Hence, public schools, seminaries, colleges and 
universities and all places where young people study, should be 
made as tasty and attractive as possible. A pastor, who had just 
removed to a new field of labor, was superintending the papering 
and fitting up of the parsonage, when one of the church committee, 
having the matter in charge, remarked that any kind of paper would 
do for the study-room, thinking that was a room of little importance. 
"No," said the pastor, "any paper will not do for my study-room. 
I want that papered the best and most cheerful-looking of any 
room in the house. The kind of sermons you get will depend on 
the kind of paper you put on those walls." And there is no ques- 
tion in my mind but what the color of the walls and general ap- 
pearance of a study-room has much to do in molding and modifying 
one's thoughts. In other words, a man can think better, more 
beautiful, shall I say, when surrounded by accessories congenial to 
his taste and feelings. 

As I have already stated, sunlight is also favorable and necessary 
to beautiful faces. Those persons who shut themselves up in the 
house most of their time, and live in dark rooms, will show it more 
or less in their faces. They lack that clear, bright, fresh appearance 
and color. They look dark and old, and have not that transparent, 
beautiful complexion that sunlight and out-door air alone can im- 
part. Where would be the soft, delicate tints that make so beau- 
tiful your garden and window flowers, if you were to shut them up 
in poorly lighted and ventilated rooms? People are far more careful 
and considerate about their house-plants than they are about them- 
selves. They let nature paint and make beautiful their flowers, but 
when it comes to their own faces, they seem to think that paint, 
powder and pad are the most reliable things. Two or three officers 
of the army were standing on the street talking one day, when a 
beautiful young lady, with fresh, healthy and rosy color in her 
cheeks, passed by, and one of them remarked to the others, in 
profane language, that she was painted. She heard what he said, 
and turning around, replied: "Yes, sir, painted, and by God only." 
The officer saw his mistake, and humbly apologized. Men always 
honor and respect a natural beauty, but despise the unnatural and 
artificial — that is, in the female face. 



HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 539 

I need hardly remind the reader that plenty of sleep and rest 
at regular hours, as well as regularity in all the habits of life, is also 
essential to a good-looking face. Men and women who keep late 
hours and fall into habits of dissipation, will soon see their beauty 
and the freshness of youth pass from their cheeks, like the dew 
before the morning sun; and their once beautiful faces will become 
like unto the parched and fading flower in the rainless desert. 

A life that is pure is the life that's true, 
And one that is known to only a few. 
The face that is pure is the one that's sure 
To be loved as long as it shall endure. 

But I imagine I hear some one say: "Well, I am too homely to 
entertain for one moment the faintest hope of ever becoming beau- 
tiful, do what I may." Let me say to such an one, You can render 
your face, however ordinary in appearance, pleasant and even win- 
ning, if you will let the moral and social graces with a cultivated 
mind shine through it. Remember the story of the traveler who 
went to visit Niagara Falls, and going out early in the morning he 
sat down on the green bank and watched the sublime spectacle; 
and as he gazed on that mighty volume of water pouring over its 
rocky precipice, he began to compare himself with the cataract, 
and thought and felt how small and insignificant he was. But as 
he thus pondered and wondered, he looked down by the side of 
him, and there on a blade of grass was suspended, glistening in the 
morning sun, a beautiful dew-drop; and after a moment's reflection 
he thought to himself: "Well, if I cannot be a mighty cataract, I 
can be a modest dew-drop." So, young lady reader, if you cannot 
be a city belle, smashing hearts whithersoever you go, you can 
certainly be a sweet and modest woman, with your graces glisten- 
ing in the broad sunlight of society as radiant as the morning 
dew-drop. Remember the words of Thomas Moore, when he said: 
"Woman! be fair, we must adore thee; smile, and a world is weak 
before thee!" Smiles put sunlight into the face, therefore cultivate 
them; only remember there are different kinds of smiles. There is 
the smile of flattery; the flirting smile; the insinuating, wicked 
smile; the innocent, childish smile; the mirthful smile; the loving 
smile; the friendship smile; and the maiden's modest smile. Be 
careful which you use, or you may unintentionally and unwittingly 



540 HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. 

bring sorrow to your soul. Smiles, tears and love, are woman's 
strongest weapons; with them she subdues, conquers and leads 
captive, the hard and selfish heart of man. 

My prayer is, that the human family will begin and continue to 
develop those physical and mental graces by good habits, pure 
thoughts and refined actions, that will make them so beautiful in 
form, so graceful in movement and so lovely in character, that they 
will resemble one vast garden of fragrant flowers, all beautiful and 
good, though differing in form, color and character. 




EXPECTATION. 

Frog. — Come, Spider, come; I love to take in strangers. 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 



Various Ways of Taking in a Stranger — Difference in Strangers — Church Buildings and 
Church Trustees — The Stamford (Conn.) Committee — Papers and their Editors — 
Experience in Wheeling, W. Va. — In Willimantic, Conn. — In Saratoga, N. Y. — In 
Anamosa, la. — At Long Branch — Y. M. C. Associations— Boarding-Houses — At 
Burlington, la. — Near Boston, Mass. — All, Boarding-Houses not Bad, However- 
Eating-Houses on Railroads — Private Houses Better than Hotels, Generally — Bad 
Beds in Hotels — Treatment of Baggage — Persons who Oppose Everything just for 
the sake of Being Contrary — Public School Boards and their Little Peculiarities — 
Curious People who Watch Strangers — All Sorts of Singular People- Many Bright 
Spots in a Traveler's Life — Experience at Petersburg, Va. — The Know-Nothing 
Class of People — Dead-Beats and Swindlers — Curiosity of Women — Unsympathetic 
Audiences — People who get Mad at Phrenologists for Telling them the Truth — 
Examples of this Class— Strangers often the Subject of Idle Gossip — Strangers not 
Expected in some parts of the Country to have Minds of their own — Experiences 
in some of the Southern States — Strangers often Unjustly Tabooed by Society — 
Picnic Incidents— The Path of Life a Diversified one. 



THERE are various ways of taking in a stranger, and the general 
manner of treating him is about as varied and changeable as the 
state of the weather. Sometimes a stranger is taken in and kindly 
cared for — treated somewhat in accordance with the teachings and 
spirit of the Bible. Sometimes he is taken in with a feeling of in- 
difference, and his treatment in that case will depend entirely upon 
the manner in which he impresses himself upon those around him. 
Sometimes he is taken in on the principle of speculation, to see how 
much can be got out of him. Sometimes he is taken in as a matter 
of convenience; and sometimes he is taken in for a good deal more 
than he bargained for. It is to some of these freaks and inconsist- 
encies of human nature that I now wish to call the attention of 
the public. 

I am willing to admit, in the first place, that all strangers are 
not of the same class, and are not to be treated alike — are not all 
worthy of the same respect and confidence; but I protest against 
the common practice of society in receiving nearly every stranger 
with an air of suspicion and reserve; and applying to every strange 



542 IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

professional or literary visitor, of whom they have not heard a 
hundred times, or who happens to be minus a handle at the end of 
his name, the term quack, fraud or humbug. The fact of the matter 
is, those people who are everlastingly shouting humbug, and telling 
how badly they have been imposed upon by this one or that one, 
are the biggest humbugs in the world themselves; because, as a 
rule, they generally associate themselves with or become interested 
in such men, and when a genuine man or woman comes along they 
will have nothing to do with them. They invariably select the bad 
and leave the good; thus clearly showing that their judgment is 
defective, perverted, and of the humbug order. 

In my travels I have frequently met religious organizations that 
have been so indiscreet as to admit almost anything or everybody 
into their church buildings, until at last the public mind and the 
newspapers have severely censured them, and perhaps given them 
a nick-name. Then the foolish trustees have met together and 
gone to the other extreme, adopting a rule like the laws of the 
Medes and Persians, that they will not have or allow anything in 
the church but the regular devotional exercises. What is such an 
action but a species of humbuggery on their part ? Because for 
years they have been courting the world, dissipating and demoral- 
izing the minds of their people, and then turn about and by their 
rigid foolery exclude many a good thing that would help undo the 
previous evil, and be a benefit to the church and community. Or, 
perhaps, they have just spent two or three thousand dollars fitting 
up the church building; and then, all at once, the leaders of that 
organization will feel as proud over the matter as a boy with a new 
pair of boots. They stretch their necks and look around like a 
rooster. They will have nothing in that church unless it is decid- 
edly popular, sensational or high-toned. The amount of good that 
a person or exhibition might do, is nothing in their consideration; 
the only question with them is, Will it harmonize with our grand 
building and aristocratic spirits ? And if any person was to ap- 
proach them and request the privilege of delivering a discourse on 
some moral, scientific or religious theme, no matter how instructive 
or elevating it might be to the race, if his name had not been 
trumpeted all over the land in the newspapers, he would only be 
snubbed and politely insulted. Let some Reverend D. D. come 
along whom they all know, with a very funny subject to lecture on, 



it's nice to be a stranger. 543 

which nobody is supposed to know anything about but himself, and 
it is all right. The church is willingly opened; the members re- 
ceive him with outstretched arms; they go around and sell tickets; 
they pay their money, fifty or seventy-five cents, and go and hear 
the lecture, which is generally a mixture of spiced sentimentalism; 
something to please the fancy and the ear; something that will do 
no harm and very little good. And when the lecture is over, the 
people go home, exclaiming: "Was it not good?" with here and 
there a criticism on the speaker's manner and delivery. But how 
long do they think about what they have heard? Not three days; 
because many of such lectures are simply a mild, hashed-up dose 
of morality, similar to what they get in the pulpit every Sabbath, 
with an occasional pun thrown in. And yet these same lecturers 
whom the people have so much confidence in, because they know 
them, or rather think they know them, have simply humbugged 
the people just to make a little money out of them. Whereas, if 
an unpretentious stranger had come along, and given them a good, 
sensible discourse, touching perhaps on the follies and vices of the 
age, they would have gone home mad, disappointed and decidedly 
down on that man for the next six months; calling him a humbug 
and anything but a gentleman. The same people who will give 
from fifty cents up to two dollars to attend some popular lecture, 
show or concert, would not give twenty-five cents to hear a plain, 
practical discourse on some vital question of the age, that would 
furnish them with an abundance of mental food. I call that the 
worst kind of humbuggery. 

When lecturing in Stamford, Conn., the committee of the Chris- 
tian Temperance Association engaged me to deliver a lecture for 
them at their rooms. They had been accustomed to these senti- 
mental, prose-poetry kind of lectures, that are pleasing to the ear, 
and never do anybody any harm or any good; lectures that picture 
in glowing colors, beautiful language and over-drawn, imaginative 
comparisons, the terrible woe of the drunkard and the intoxicating 
cup; but never point out in plain words the real cause of crime and 
intemperance. When I delivered my discourse as I had done else- 
where, and struck at the root of the evil, it did not take; they 
wanted something more pleasing; the naked truth was too startling 
for their sensitive souls; they wanted the truth varnished over in 
flowery language and figures of speech. They were not like the 



544 IT? S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

father of Carlyle, who refused to have his house painted because he 
did not want a lie spread over it; they were more like the women 
of the day, who like a lie spread over their faces in the shape of 
powder and paint. Some of them got mad; they even left the 
room; they could not stand it, nor even sit down under it. Some 
of them were hit in the forehead on the tobacco question and other 
injurious habits. They wanted nothing that was condemnatory of 
themselves. They were evidently astonished, and wondered how 
I could have the audacity to stand up and make them out to be in 
practice but a little better than those they are trying to reclaim 
(some of them, at least). And, notwithstanding, two or three of 
the old citizens came forward at the close of the meeting, and 
warmly shaking my hand, remarked: "It does not matter, Pro- 
fessor, whether these people like this lecture or not, it is just what 
they need." There appeared in one of the papers that week, the 
following comment: "After the performance of Professor Willis at 
the Temperance Rooms, Tuesday evening, the Association will be 
more particular hereafter when allowing strangers to occupy the 
desk. What the gentleman had to say on physiology was, perhaps, 
well enough in its place, but entirely out of place there and then." 
The editor of the paper in which the above appeared, was not even 
present at the lecture; but as he was a church member and a Sab- 
bath-school teacher, it is hardly to be supposed he would misrep- 
resent a person; nevertheless I am at a loss to know what he meant 
by the word performance, unless he referred to the actions of some 
persons in the audience; for the only performance I saw was that 
of some Christian and temperance young ladies, who sat in the 
back part of the room, and whose monkey behavior was not only 
a disgrace to the occasion and their profession, but to their sex. 
But as Barnum was coming along about that time, with his "Great- 
est Show on Earth," and all kinds of performing animals, I presume 
that Christian editor had circus and performances on the brain. 

Here is another statement which appeared, if I remember right, 
in the same edition of the paper concerning the man who said 
that the American people like to be humbugged. "The Hon. P. T. 
Barnum, after addressing a crowded audience under the canvas 
covering his big show tent in Stamford, will return to Bridgeport 
next Monday, and the same evening, shaking the ring saw-dust from 
his feet, will lecture in the Church of the Redeemer for the benefit 



IT S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 545 

of a Sunday-school. N. B. — This is not an advertisement for the 
circus, but mentioned merely to illustrate how diversified are the 
talents of the proprietor of the 'Greatest show on Earth.'" What 
a mixture! the Redeemer's church, the Sunday-school, Barnum and 
his circus, all mixed up together. Why did they not get Barnum 
to exhibit Sunday afternoon and evening and have all the children 
and the Church of the Redeemer go to it? They would have made 
more money by it. Another slur which that editor made use of, 
though perhaps not intentionally, is found in the words, "allowing 
strangers to occupy the desk," as though a stranger could and should 
not be just as good as anybody else ! A man's calling, after all, is 
not of so much importance, providing he is well known and makes 
lots of money and occasionally bestows a little of it on other peo- 
ple, either charitably or for services rendered. 

Now to offset the above, here is another statement of the same 
lecture in one of the papers of Wheeling, in West Virginia. "Prof. 
Willis, of Chicago, delivered a lecture in the Presbyterian church on 
Sunday evening, on the 'Cause and Cure of Crime and Dissipation.' 
The speaker held his audience for over an hour, in an amusing, sen- 
sible and instructive manner. The lecture is far above the average 
delivered by the numerous comers and goers, and is worth listening 
to by every good citizen." Nor was the above a paid notice, nor 
did I do any advertising in the paper, or even know such commen- 
dations had been printed, till some person who had the paper called 
my attention to it. Here is another short notice from a daily paper 
in Cumberland, a city at the foot of the Alleghany Mountains, in 
Maryland. "Prof. A. E. Willis, of Chicago, lectured to a very large 
audience at the Centre Street Methodist Episcopal Church yester- 
day afternoon (Sunday) and was well received." The reader will 
observe from these two notices that on both occasions this same 
lecture was delivered to religious audiences on the Sabbath day, in 
orthodox churches, and one of them the most rigid of all, and was 
acceptable. It has also been delivered in many other cities and 
churches — too many to mention here — yet that temperance society 
of Stamford could not listen to it on a week-day evening without 
having their sham modesty shocked. Nice people to be engaged 
in a work of reforming drunkards! I should think they would be 
afraid to touch a drunkard with a ten-foot pole, especially if he was 
a stransrer. 



546 it's nice to be a stranger. 

I passed on to Willimantic, which is quite a manufacturing town 
in Connecticut, and at the suggestion of one of the pastors (a solid, 
practical man), the temperance society there engaged me to lecture 
for them. The organization was not large, and the time to give 
notice of it, short. The society, however, seemed well pleased and 
some of the audience were anxious to have me return and give 
more lectures, but one of the editors in the place who happened to 
be there, took a different view of things and so penned the follow- 
ing burlesque and amusing article : " About fifty persons availed 
themselves of the opportunity to hear Prof. A. E. Willis discourse 
upon 'Physiognomy, or the Tracks of Crime in the Human Face,' 
before the Total Abstinence Club, Sunday afternoon. Prof. Willis 
evidently belongs to the cynic school of philosophers; one of the 
class with whom the world is out of joint and all the people in it. 
The gist of his lamentation was, that people ate too much, drank too 
much, did not eat the right kind of food or drink the right kind of 
liquid, used abominable tobacco, read the Bible too much and did 
not study it enough; knew comparatively nothing of their physical 
formation or its requirements, were fond of trashy books and im- 
moral amusements, married helter-skelter, and, in brief, were 'poor 
critters anyway, and hardly worth raising!' The Professor claimed 
to be able to read a man's character in his face, and was a dead 
shot in detecting religious ancestry. The use of liquors he attrib- 
uted to the natural desire for stimulants by persons of nervous 
organizations, and in many instances the vice was inherited, etc. 
The speaker illustrated his several points by statistics of various 
kinds, and incidents that had come under his personal observation. 
The lecture was delivered in a tame and spiritless manner, but the 
audience paid respectful attention." [The editor was anxious to 
keep on the right side of the people, some of them, being residents, 
might have been subscribers; so he pays them a respectful compli- 
ment by alluding to their respectful attention; but, of course, it 
did not matter to him financially, what he said about a stranger, 
at least he seemed to think so.] " There was no enthusiasm, and 
the monotony of the affair was only relieved by an occasional 
grunt of approval from an ardent anti-tobacconist, during the 
professor's wrestle with the baneful weed." When I read that 
notice I had a hearty laugh. I knew my lecture had hit that 
editor square in the face or he would not have squealed so bad; 



it's nice to be a stranger. 547 

so I wrote to a person in Willimantic and inquired if he was not 
a drinking man or addicted to the use of tobacco, and word came 
back that he was or had been given to drink, and used tobacco. 
Touch a man's boil, and he will cry out every time.' 

The following is another notice written by an editor in Sara- 
toga, N. Y., who was neither sham-modest nor given to dissipation. 
It was in the summer of 1878: "The lecture by Prof. Willis, of 
Chicago, last night in the First Baptist Church, on ' The Cause 
and Cure of Crime and Dissipation,' was attended by a large and 
very intelligent audience. The views of the speaker were sensible, 
and were clearly and forcibly expressed. A large number of the 
clergy were present, and at the close a hearty and unanimous vote 
of thanks was adopted." 

Another newspaper notice will serve to illustrate how a stran- 
ger is frequently abused and misrepresented by some unprincipled 
editors, just because he does not feel inclined to rush into their 
office and hand over a few dollars to be advertised and puffed. On 
my first visit to Anamosa, Iowa, I made arrangements to deliver 
a free-admission lecture in one of the churches, as also I did to 
the convicts in the penitentiary. As everybody knows, it is cus- 
tomary all over Christendom to announce from the pulpits lectures 
and entertainments that are given in the church, and very often 
pay-lectures, etc., that are not given in a church are announced 
from the pulpit. The editor in question had been a very irrelig- 
ious and sarcastic young man, but during a revival, just before my 
visit, had professed a change of heart and united with a Christian 
church (not the one I lectured in, however). But it was quite 
evident from his tone of writing that he had retained a good deal 
of his old nature with which to sharpen his attacks upon those 
who did not think and do business just as he did, or rather as he 
would like for his own interest. The following is his editorial: 
11 It not infrequently occurs to us that a certain class of public 
exhibitors, such as clap-trap lecturers, etc., are imbued with 
the idea that church societies are advertising bureaus and minis- 
ters special advertising agents, and it looks as though this was a 
neat and plausible way to cheat the newspapers out of what 
rightfully belongs to them." [It is easy to see where the shoe 
pinched.] ''An impecunious lecturer, wishing to save a penny, finds 
out the minister and requests him to read a notice of his lecture 



548 IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

from the pulpit Sunday morning, offering him, perhaps, a slight 
consideration in his (the lecturer's) merchandise." [It was really 
the other way, however, for the preacher wanted to read my work 
without buying it.] " The minister, good-natured soul, cannot 
refuse so simple a request and consents." [The editor here would 
have his readers infer that ministers have not as much will or back- 
bone in them as a five-year old child.] " To make sure of a ful- 
fillment, the lecturer drops into the church at a late hour Sunday 
morning and sits at the foot of the aisle, directly facing the 
minister, who, with a living witness of his promise staring him 
steadily in the eye, cannot but fulfill it, and the notice is read. 
The lecturer drops a jerk of satisfaction at the reading, and the 
congregation immediately become acquainted with the fact that 
the big bull-dozer is among them, and the advertisement is admir- 
able. There are other illustrations of this imposition that we 
might give, but we will forbear. Suffice it to say, it is a downright 
insult to the people who attend the churches to thrust this sort 
of beggarly practice upon them, and an injustice to the news- 
papers." 

In regard to dropping into the church late Sunday morning, 
there was nothing intentional on my part about it; something 
detained me from being ready in time, and so I stepped into the 
nearest place of worship, and in order to avoid disturbing the 
minister or the congregation, I did what any sensible or thoughtful 
person would do, sit down in the rear end of the church. The 
editor happened to be sitting on the same seat, and as soon as he 
saw me sit down got up and walked to the centre of the church 
and took another seat. Now, if he had been possessed of a true 
Christian spirit, he would not have done it, nor would he have 
misinterpreted my late arrival as he did. 

Here is another article written by the same editor and published 
in another column of the same issue, which shows how much space 
an editor can use for nothing when he feels ugly and wants to 
write ugly things; although when he has anything good to say 
about a man, even if he is paid for it, he can generally manage to 
say it in about half the space; or, if it should happen to be a 
pretty woman who appears in public, then that class of editors 
can hardly find words enough in the English language to express 
their admiration and the deep emotions of their palpitating hearts: 



it's nice to be a stranger. 



549 



"Prof. Willis closed his lectures on Phrenology and Physiognomy in 
this city on Monday, and many of the boys feel themselves wiser, 
if not better, for his having been here. There is no doubt that 
Phrenology makes a noble stagger at pointing out the leading 
characteristics of men, but when it claims to dissect and dish up 
in detail the minutiae of a character, it attempts the impossible. 
There is no doubt that a person skilled in the so-called science of 
Phrenology can offer valuable suggestions to a young man just 
starting in life, but the adept in it can no more reach behind the 
veil that screens the more delicate and dimly-discovered tracery 
of human character, than he can reach up and pull the nose of the 
man in the moon." [He was most likely thinking of his own nose 
at the time, which was a very prominent feature.] "Prof. Willis is a 
mild speaker, having some persuasion and force, and some knowl- 
edge of human nature; but at the same time he is a crafty bugler 
who attempts to whistle the exact tune he finds most popular in the 
community he strikes, and makes music to suit the temper of his 
victims." That this last statement, charging me with policy tricks 
in adapting myself to each community is false, is shown in the notice 
I got in the Stamford paper, and in other places where my plain, 
unvarnished statements have driven people out of the building. 

The following is another notice from another editor of the same 
place (Anamosa) concerning the same lectures, but written in a 
different spirit, though he did no advertising for me nor received 
any pay for the said notice: "Prof. Willis' lectures on Phrenology 
and Christianity, Health^ etc., last week, were well received. The 
professor is thoroughly posted and gives his hearers plenty of very 
timely suggestions on these topics." I will mention only one more of 
the many favorable notices given me in all parts of the country, as 
far as I have been, for the purpose of showing the difference in 
human nature, human judgment and human feeling. This is from 
the Daily News, of Long Branch, in the summer of 1878: "Prof. 
A. E. Willis, of Chicago, who has lately been engaged in lecturing 
before many of the schools and colleges of this country, and who 
has also written 'A Treatise on Human Nature and Physiognomy' 
[referring to my first book], lectured to a moderately large audience 
at Centenary Church last evening." (Long Branch visitors prefer 
to listen to and gaze at the ocean waves rather than fan them- 
selves in church.) " The lecture was a good one, and if the 



550 IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

practical suggestions given were acted upon, we should doubtless 
see an improved condition of things in religious circles." This 
lecture was delivered without any remuneration whatever, as is 
often the case in my travels, and the criticisms on it do not sound 
much like " beggarly practice, bull-dozing, and clap-trap lectur- 
ing." I could quote many other notices of later date in eastern 
cities, but as the reader may think I am sounding my own trumpet 
or advertising my lectures, I will refrain. I care not how much 
good a stranger may try to do in his travels, he will find somebody 
ready to abuse or misrepresent him, impugn his motives and give 
him the cold shoulder. 

Even young men's Christian associations are more interested 
in getting up concerts, etc., than they are in assisting some poor, 
worthy stranger. I dropped into one of these associations in a 
certain city once, and while talking with either the secretary or 
president, a poor man came in who had left his family in search of 
work, but failing to find any was trying to make his way home 
again in a penniless condition. If ever there was an honest, 
worthy soul he was one, but all the assistance he got was the con- 
soling advice that he had better go and find some person in the 
city who knew him, as he, the official, could not assist him unless he 
put his hand in his own pocket; nor would he as much as use any 
personal influence to assist the poor man, but coldly sent him away. 
It will not be credited to the account of that secretary or the 
association on the last great day, " I was a stranger and ye took 
me in," etc. But if the man had been well-dressed, in good cir- 
cumstances, and could have rendered the association any assist- 
ance, they would have taken him in right away. I was treated 
very little better myself a few months afterward. I had arranged 
to deliver a discourse on the Cause and Cure of Crime and Dissi- 
pation, in one of the prominent churches of that city, free admission 
and for the public benefit. Thinking that young men's Christian 
associations were or ought to be interested in the suppression of 
vice and the elevation of the race, I called and asked them to 
announce it in one of their meetings. They refused to do it; they 
had a rule against it, or something of that sort. Hence my im- 
pression is, and I get it not from that society alone, but from many 
others, that while these institutions may on the whole do good, 
and were designed to do more than they do, they are spoiled 



IT S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 



55 



through mismanagement; that is, the wrong kind of men are put at 
the head of them. A banker or some other prominent business 
man is made president, and the secretary, though belonging to a 
church, is in many instances one of the stylish society young men, 
or, more frequently, old men, of the place, having a good deal more 
of the irreligious nature in him than true piety. Men, whose 
fathers were note-shavers or something of that sort, are not apt to 
be the best suited for such positions. And it does seem a little 
absurd to call them young men's associations when in the majority 
of cases they are managed and controlled by old or middle-aged 
men. Hence the concern is frequently run more on fashionable 
and strictly business principles than in a humble Christian spirit. 
They are interested in persons, things and movements that are 
popular, but not in much else; especially not in a poor, modest, 
humble stranger. I am speaking now of the spirit that seems to 
pervade these city associations. I doubt not, yea, T believe, that 
many of the younger members are hard workers, and are trying to 
do what good they can; but the difficulty is, the associations are 
not controlled by the members who do the most actual outside 
work and good. In the summer of 1878, a gentleman in New 
York State remarked to me that the majority of absconders and 
defaulters of late occurrence had been either members of young 
men's Christian associations or Sabbath-school teachers, superin- 
tendents, etc. Now, no sensible and unprejudiced person will for one 
moment censure the Sabbath-school or these associations for such 
bad characters, but the fact, nevertheless, goes to show that it is a 
mistake to be always putting popular, proud-minded, grasping 
office-seekers and ambitious business men into Christian offices. 
As a rule, they are not fit for those positions and have no business 
there, either in associations, Sabbath-schools or churches, because 
they are very apt to make use of their position for business inter- 
ests, or as a cloak to hide their rascalities. Think of a prominent 
member of a young men's Christian association and a Sunday- 
school superintendent also getting up, or assisting to do so, a 
great temperance movement in order to help a political party! 
Think of another young men's Christian association member who 
has a book store through which all the members and the public 
have to pass to get to their rooms for services, who has a large 
window in which are advertised Moody and Sankey's works, right 



552 it's nice to be a stranger. 

under some popular novel. What a mixture! Think of a man 
leading the devotional exercises at one of these meetings, who not 
long afterwards is heard swearing in the rear of his store. Think 
of a man claiming to be a minister of the gospel getting up a 
revival meeting to introduce a new singing book. Tell me of 
dead-beats, humbugs, quacks and impostors that come under the 
head of strangers, and I will tell you that these are hardly to be 
compared to the monstrous fraud and humbuggery practiced by 
men who are well known and well connected in society. Let a 
stranger enter a city and apply to a boarding-house for accommo- 
dations, say one that has been recommended by the Young Men's 
Christian Association, and inquire the terms; he is informed it is 
so much, payable in advance; if he murmurs about paying in 
advance, he is at once met with the humiliating and aggravating 
reply, " Those are our terms to strangers;" and so the poor 
stranger begins to feel (that is, if he has any feelings after a few 
receptions like that) as though he would like to live in some other 
country, where there is less suspicion and more charity. If anyone 
will take the trouble to inquire into the history of these respecta- 
ble and Christian hash-house keepers, they will learn that in eight 
or nine cases out of ten, where these individuals have lost money, 
it has been by trusting persons they knew and not strangers; be- 
cause if they do trust the latter, it is only for a few days, and then 
they are called upon to pay up or leave; but some person or 
family they know may run up a bill for several weeks of board. 
Thus it frequently happens the person will lose as much as forty 
or fifty dollars from one party. That opens their eyes, and they 
determine to be sharper in the future. So the next comer who 
wants board is most likely a stranger, and to him they declare 
they must have their money in advance, they have lost so much 
money already trusting people, thus indirectly conveying the im- 
pression to him that it has been through strangers. And yet it 
never seems to enter the minds of these pay-in-advance people 
that they are also strangers to the party applying, and that he has 
no more guarantee of the kind of board he will get than they 
have of his money. Then how disagreeable it is to an honest man 
•to be treated as a dead-beat just because he is a stranger. His 
memory, perhaps, recalls that passage which says: " Be careful to 
entertain strangers, for some have thus entertained angels una- 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 553 

wares." It is so nice when one calls at the door of a conservative 
and suspicious boarding-house family to be coldly shown into the 
parlor, and then, when brought face to face with the mistress, 
discover that she has suddenly turned herself for the time being 
into a criminal lawyer, and commences on you a rigid system of 
cross-examination. Such as, "Who sent you here?" "What is your 
name?" "Are you a stranger in the city ?" "How long do you wish 
to stay?" "What is your business?" etc.; meanwhile keeping up a 
searching and inquisitive scrutiny of your face, person, dress and 
manner, as though she would like to turn you inside out and see 
the contents of your heart and pocket book. If after she has 
done pumping and quizzing you she is not quite satisfied, she will 
probably tell you they are not in the habit of taking strangers, 
and refer you to another inferior place just around the corner, or 
else she pretends to consult another member of the family to see 
if they can make it convenient, and returns in a very few moments 
with perhaps a lie in her mouth, that she is sorry, but they canViot 
accommodate any more at present. On one occasion, wishing to 
stop at a private house for a short time, in the State of New Jer- 
sey, I was shown by the servant into the parlor, and, after waiting 
several minutes, an old lady made her appearance in a very stiff, 
precise way, and seated herself in a chair with a bible in her hand, 
which she kept fussing with, as much as to say, " I am a very pious 
woman, and particular about the deportment of my house." After 
a few questions, I was informed that she did not take any one 
unless she knew them. I suspect she carried more of the bible 
outside of her than she did inside. 

When in Burlington, Iowa, I was recommended to a private 
house for board. I called, and was shown into the parlor; in a 
few moments a tall man with forbidding, frowning countenance 
made his appearance. He looked at me as though he would like 
to make mince-meat out of me, or put me through a sausage 
machine. Then he commenced the following questions in a very 
surly voice: "Well, sir, what do you want?" "I want board." 
" What is your name ? " " A. JE. Willis." " What is your business ? " 
" I am a lecturer." "What do you lecture on?" "Scientific sub- 
jects." " Well, I guess there is no board here for you." Without 
saying another word, I picked myself up and walked out somewhat 
shocked and terrified, but thankful that I had got away without 



554 IT ' S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

being scalped. I learned afterward that he was a relative of the 
lady who kept the house — one of those codfish aristocratic speci- 
mens of humanity who, though not wealthy, had rather more 
money or property than he had common sense and manners; just 
enough, I suppose, to turn his brains and make a fool of him. 

"Ah!" says an eastern man, "that is nothing more than you 
may expect out West." Well, some time afterwards I went East, 
and visited a town of colleges not far from Boston, the American 
centre of civilization, refinement and politeness. It was about 
supper time and beginning to rain, and the only hotel in the 
place was about a mile from where I wanted to stop. I called 
at a private boarding-house and asked the lady if she had any 
accommodation, to which she replied in the affirmative. I was 
asked to step inside, and then she opened her strangers' book of 
catechism and began to put me through, Yankee-like, the inquisi- 
tive process of pumping. Not liking the manner and spirit in 
which these questions were put, and feeling that I was being 
subjected to rather a humiliating kind of treatment, my answers 
were slow and indefinite. Then she commenced to scan me rather 
closely, and I could both see and feel suspicion rising in her mind, 
till finally it came out by her remarking that she was careful who 
she took into her family, when I mildly withdrew, leaving her to 
contemplate on the fact that I, too, was particular as to what kind 
of a family I stopped with. These incidents show how a certain 
class of people like to be humbugged for the simple reason, I sup- 
pose, that they are tainted with that kind of nature themselves; 
hence such people will take in a humbug nearly every time, but 
send away an honest man. Suppose when that woman asked, 
among her many questions, who sent me there, I had given her 
the name of some well known citizen, just what a fraud would 
have done, she would have concluded at once I was all right, 
though I may never have seen such a person; and if some citizen 
had sent me, or anybody else, he may have known nothing more 
about me than herself, nor would two boarding-house women in a 
hundred take the trouble to go and see the party given as refer- 
ence, and so the reference and recommendation business is another 
species of humbuggery. Then when she inquired how long I was 
going to stay, if a dead-beat, I would have told her all the sum- 
mer or winter, as the case might be; and if, when she inquired my 



IT S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 555 

business, I had represented myself as engaged in a very lucrative 
business, she would have thought I was a very desirable visitor to 
have in the house, though she may have known nothing more 
positively about my character than the man in the moon, if there 
is such a being. Such people are just sharp enough to fool them- 
selves, for it is really amusing how they allow themselves to be 
gulled by impostors. To illustrate: A dead-beat comes along 
and wants to sponge a few days' board out of such a man or 
woman. He has no baggage, but he makes up a plausible story, 
(very thin in reality, but then it takes with people who like hum- 
buggery all the better) he is going to stay for some time, and is 
going to have his piano moved there in a few days. Of course, a 
man who has a piano is good for a few days' board, thus reasons 
the boarding-house keeper; but, alas ! that long-looked for piano 
never comes, and she awakes some morning to discover that her 
musical bird has flown without leaving any change behind for 
value received, but, perhaps, taken a little with him, and then she 
says to herself, her family and neighbors, "Well, who would have 
thought that such a good-looking man was such a character; he 
was so pleasant and agreeable." But she has learned a lesson; she 
will trust no more strangers, and the next one that comes along 
is an honest man, a thorough gentlemen, whom she not only 
makes pay in advance, but treats suspiciously. Another fraud 
calls at a boarding-house and makes up his mind to stay two or 
three weeks; it may be he has a small, old trunk filled with old 
clothes that a ragman would hardly pick up, in which are wrapped 
up a few bricks to make it of weighty importance. He represents 
himself as a book-agent, though he never does anything but strut 
around with kid gloves on and play the agreeable to everybody he 
can. His tongue is very smooth, probably oiled with flattery; he 
expresses himself in the strongest terms against all kinds of dis- 
honesty and meanness. The weeks come and go, and he keeps 
time with them in everything but paying for his board, but his 
smooth tongue and avowed honest principles persuade his land- 
lady that all is right; he is expecting some money every day from 
his firm or some relative, then he will promptly pay all arrears. 
Thus matters go on as long as he thinks the patience of his victim 
will hold out, when he plays a game by himself of hop, skip and 
jump; yes, he skips clean out of sight, and then the landlady, whc 



556 it's nice to be a stranger. 

thought he was such a nice man, jumps around the house and 
almost pulls the hair out of her head because she trusted a 
stranger. If he had only been somebody she knew she would 
not care half as much; in fact, she would trust a man she knew 
a good deal longer, even if his prospect of paying was no better, 
or not even as good. If, however, the last named kind of board- 
ing-house scalper has considerable cheek, he will most likely stay 
till he is requested to leave. In that case, he has the advantage, 
because he does not run away, and all she can do, especially when 
he has been there some three weeks, is to hold his worthless trunk, 
which he politely and gladly leaves. 

A lady in Virginia told me of a young man who came to her 
house and engaged a room for himself and brother, who was to be 
in the next day with his trunk. Next day came, but brought not 
the brother, but he expected him on the next train; he must have 
missed the other one. So he goes to the next train, but no brother 
comes. He gets uneasy, cannot think what is the matter, but he will 
certainly arrive on the night train. So he gets up in the middle of 
the night to meet him, but no brother arrives. He pretends to 
be very uneasy and wonders what has happened, feigns a little 
sickness, and thus plays his game a few days, and then skips out. 

It may appear strange to some persons that any one will keep 
a stranger longer than a week without paying, but the fact is, they 
indulge in a little speculation; they know or think if they send 
him away abruptly they will lose their pay, whereas if they keep 
him a little longer he may get some money and pay up. In this 
way the dishonest stranger deludes them day after day till he has 
been there two or three weeks. But my own observations and 
inquiries have led me to the conclusion that boarding-house keep- 
ers lose money by trusting people they know more than they do 
by strangers. First, because they will trust them longer in the 
hopes of getting the pay sometime, not seeming to recognize the 
fact that people they know may be and often are just as dishonest 
as any stranger; and secondly, because families often board out and 
get hard up, in which case it only takes about two weeks to run up 
a bill of from thirty to forty dollars. But no matter who cheats the 
landlady, whether friend or stranger, she generally attributes her 
losses to strangers, though she may never have lost more than 
two or three dollars by the latter, but a hundred from the former. 



IT S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 



557 



At any rate, that is the story she tells and the harp she plays on 
to induce the stranger to pay in advance, and when you have paid 
your money you take your choice of tiring your jaws chewing 
sole-leather beefsteak or greasing your throat and stomach with 
fried pork and sausage. I do not wish to be understood as de- 
scribing all boarding-house keepers as belonging to the class I 
have referred to; far from it. There are many with whom it is a 
pleasure and even a privilege to stop; many who treat a stranger 
with becoming respect and courtesy — who are disposed to receive 
and esteem him as a gentleman till he proves himself the opposite. 

I have sometimes alluded to impositions in my conversation 
with such landladies, and their reply would be to the effect that 
they treated strangers gentlemanly, and that if one was mean 
enough to leave without paying he would be the most injured 
party in the end; and that is about the right view of the matter. 
A few days' board will not ruin anybody, but a few mean little 
tricks will do considerable towards ruining the soul and character 
of the one who practices them. 

The president of a college where I lectured, when speaking 
about lecture impostors, and especially one who had just addressed 
the students of his school, remarked that he expected to be im- 
posed upon once in a while. That seems to me to be a sensible 
view to take of the matter, for the man or woman who thinks to get 
through this world of sin and deception without ever being imposed 
upon in any way by either stranger, friend or foe, is laboring under 
a delusion. There are a good many smart people in the world, but 
none quite so smart as that. There are some whose experience 
and contact with the world is very limited; with them, of course, 
the chances for being taken in are far less, especially when they 
act upon the suspicious and uncharitable principle of keeping 
strangers at a distance. Misplaced confidence is the outgrowth of 
friendship or partial acquaintance, but hardly ever can that term 
be used in reference to strangers, unless it be where the stupidity 
or passions of men have led them astray. Instances are not un- 
common where one's friends have in some respects been their 
worst enemies; what they have done and what they have not done 
has hindered them in their business pursuits and their general 
progress in life more than all other influences put together; some- 
times even going so far as to rob them of their property. A great 



558 IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

many parents discourage and keep their children from entering 
some noble pursuit in life, put them into some inferior calling or 
sphere in life when they are fit for one far higher. While on the 
other hand, not a few persuade and allow their sons to enter 
professions beyond their reach, and for which nature never in- 
tended them; in either case, such parents and friends make the 
lives of their children a failure, whereas the advice of a stranger 
might have been of far more value to them. Then friends often 
turn against friends; the members of the same family often turn 
against each other, and do things dishonorable to the memory of 
their deceased parents. Why, let a rich man die leaving his will 
objectionable to some of his family or relatives, and the funeral 
services will hardly be over before they contest his will and go 
into court and swear that he was out of his mind when he made it. 
But if he had died poor, they would all have rejoiced to think that 
he was sensible to the last moment. 

But to return to my subject. The difficulty that seems to exist 
between strangers and a large number of what are called private 
or the better class of boarding-houses, arises from the fact that in 
this country there are a good many people who are conservative 
in their ideas, unsocial in their nature, and somewhat aristocratic 
in style and manners, but nevertheless too poor and too stingy or 
too lazy to keep house themselves, and therefore prefer to board; 
and when two or three such families get into a house, or even a 
small hotel, they monopolize and run things to suit themselves; 
hence, aim to make things just as private as though they were in 
their own homes. They want no one admitted to the house if 
they can help it, unless acquaintances or some one of equal or 
superior rank and social position. They would rather live on 
inferior food and put up with bad cooking than have the trouble 
and expense of house-keeping. Such people ought to have a 
house by themselves; they do not belong to hotels or regular 
boarding-houses. 

Then, the. keepers of some boarding-houses and hotels are very 
impolite toward strangers, or, if they are not, their servants are. 
While stopping in St. Louis one summer, I moved to two or three 
places before being suited. The first place I went to, not being aware 
it was customary to pay in advance, I did not offer to do so, nor did 
the landlady directly ask for it, but inquired for my business card, 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 559 

name, etc., which I gave her. On the morning of the last day of 
the week she accosted me at the breakfast table for her board- 
money; she got it, and I left. Still she was a Christian woman, 
and I was recommended there by the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation. The next place I went to I paid in advance; and one 
day at dinner, when the time came for dessert, seeing there was 
something I was quite fond of, I said to the waiter-girl, in a pleas- 
ant manner, "Bring me a nice piece." Said she, in a sour and abrupt 
tone of voice, "I guess you will get what the rest get." That was 
considered a good house, and the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion sent me there. It was a place of Christian influence, and a 
home for strangers. Receiving two or three such replies from the 
sauce-box waiter (though the lady seemed to be a pleasant woman 
herself), I tried a third place, and there I was fed chiefly on raw 
vegetables. 

One summer later I visited Long Branch. Not being familiar 
with the place, I made some inquiries, and was recommended to a 
private house where I engaged board. When seated at the tea- 
table, I was kindly informed that they were not in the habit of 
taking strangers, though really they had fitted up their house for 
that very purpose, like most other cottages in that and similar 
localities. It was such a nice remark to make when a man was 
eating! But then, perhaps, she thought it would tone up my stom- 
ach a little, and help digest my supper. Her real motive, of course, 
was to impress me with the idea that they were select and very 
nice people. Her cook had a wonderful faculty for spicing and 
peppering things up strong enough to take the place of onions, so 
one evening I requested her to tell her cook not to pepper my 
food. Well, I suppose you have read about the sudden storms 
that would pass over the lake of Genesareth, as mentioned in the 
Bible, but that sinks into insignificance compared with the storm 
that woman raised. She got up on her dignity quick as a flash 
of lightning, frowned, looked as black as a thunder-cloud, and 
angrily replied: "We are not cooking especially for you, Mr. 
Willis; you ought to have a house by yourself." After sufficiently 
recovering from the shock, I quietly paid my bill and found an- 
other place far more congenial. The trouble with that family was, 
they had once been in better circumstances, and instead of making 
the best of their misfortune and adapting themselves to their 



560 it's nice to be a stranger. 

present circumstances, they retained and tried to carry out their 
high-toned feelings; hence, were altogether too sensitive. 

Sometimes I meet persons a little on the rough order in their 
mode of life and manners, who are offended and offensive through 
a misapprehension of a stranger's motives and feelings towards 
them, although he has the appearance of a gentleman in dress and 
manners. Traveling through Ohio, and having to lay over an 
hour or two about dinner time, I went into the only eating-house 
there was within five or six miles of the depot. Giving my order 
for dinner to a woman of common mien, who proved to be far 
more touchy than intelligent, I stated that I did not wish any 
pork because I did not use it, for very often, where they have no 
bill of fare, they will cook pork chops. Thinking, I suppose, that 
I was putting on airs, and had a poor opinion of her house and 
board, she flew into a rage and stated that they had beefsteak, and 
did not wish or intend to be insulted, and as good as ordered me 
out. So I went across the street to a small grocery store, and got 
some crackers and cheese, and, while eating that, thought to 
myself, "It's nice to be a stranger." 

Another peculiarity a stranger meets with in traveling is the 
odd system they have of charging in hotels and many boarding- 
houses. If you stop at the former, they may ask you to take a 
medium price; as an illustration, say two dollars a day, or ten 
dollars a week; but, for any time less than a week, two dollars per 
day. Thus, if you stay six days, you pay twelve dollars; but, if 
you stay seven days, it would cost only ten dollars. At a board- 
ing-house, say seven dollars a week or one dollar and twenty-five 
cents per day; six days, would be seven dollars and fifty cents, but 
seven days would cost you fifty cents less; or, if five dollars per 
week, and one dollar per day, then six days would cost six dollars 
and seven days five dollars. Some hotels are so stiff and inde- 
pendent that they make no reduction on day rates unless you stay 
a month. Now, it costs no more in proportion to keep a man a 
day than it does a month, unless you have trunks to move in and 
out, and if one has a trunk, it ought not to make nearly double 
the difference in the price. If you ask them why they do it, they 
will remind you that the bed clothes have to be changed every 
time. But they do not do it, and the bed that a stranger some- 
times gets to sleep on is not worth the name of a bed, and he 



it's nice to be a stranger. 561 

will frequently find himself in the morning minus either soap, 
water or towel, or, it may be, will have only half enough bed 
clothes, and wake up in the night half frozen; for it must be 
remembered, you cannot always find first-class hotels to stop at 
when traveling. 

I find more comfort and home-like accommodations, as a rule, 
in private houses than I do in the average hotel. As in all other 
things, there are exceptions, and so here and there you will find a 
good hotel and a gentleman at the head of it, who charges moder- 
ately, and gives his guests good accommodations. But a good many 
places called hotels are impositions upon the public, both in price 
and accommodations, and ought to be shut up. The slovenly ap- 
pearance, filth and stench connected with some of the apartments 
of many hotels, render them hardly fit for a pig to live in, and 
some of the sleeping rooms are so small, badly lighted and venti- 
lated, that a resident of the Five Points of New York would feel 
quite at home in one of them. And yet a stranger is asked to 
pay from one dollar and fifty cents per day upwards for such 
miserable and health-ruining living. Even the best hotels in many 
cities of moderate size are far from being what they ought to be. 
Considered from a moral point of view, private houses are more 
desirable than a large number of hotels, and in a social sense, are 
preferable to any regular hotel, unless you choose to think bustle, 
general excitement and numbers a part of social life. When one 
puts up with a private family, no matter how humble or plain, 
there is something that makes you feel more at home than though 
you were in the finest hotel in the country, unless you have been 
born and brought up in a hotel. There is too much dissipation 
associated with a good deal of hotel life nowadays, and a stranger 
hardly knows just what kind of an establishment he is going into, 
as many of them are very little better than regular assignation 
houses, for a good deal of that kind of business is carried on with 
the understanding that no objections will be made nor questions 
asked by the proprietor. I am not urging it to be the duty of 
landlords to inquire into the private business or character of his 
guests; but many of them permit, if not encourage, that sort of 
thing openly. There is also more or less drinking connected with 
them, so that the influence of hotel life in general (granting ex- 
ceptional cases) is somewhat demoralizing. I know of a Baptist 



562 it's nice to be a stranger. 

deacon, who keeps a hotel and has a bar attached to it, and judging 
from appearances, and remarks made by herself and others, a fast 
married woman boards there and sits at the table with a Christian 
family, and it seems almost impossible that parties in the house 
can be ignorant of her true character when so many outside people 
know what she is. Still, if a man has any business to do requiring 
the exhibition of samples, or an office where people can call on 
him, a hotel is the most appropriate place for all parties concerned, 
though there are some persons who would rather call at a private 
house to see a professional man than go to a hotel. Hotels are 
good institutions when run on humane principles, and when they 
have the right kind of men in charge of them. It is not always 
safe for a stranger to pay a week's board in advance, because there 
are two sides to this stranger question, and he is liable to be taken 
in as well as the landlady. 

A stranger, visiting Philadelphia, engaged board and paid in 
advance, expecting he was going to stay the week out, but with 
the understanding, as he thought, if he did not the pay was to be 
in proportion. Circumstances necessitated his leaving the city 
before he had been there three days. The landlady was one of 
those strong-minded masculine creatures and evidently belonged 
to that class of regular boarding-house women who make it their 
business to get all they can, take every advantage the law will 
allow them, and be thoroughly posted in all the ways and means 
that will help them on to financial success. She evinced no inten- 
tion of paying back any money, but managed to keep out of sight 
when he was ready to start. He sent for her, and remarked he 
was ready to go. "Well," said she, in a harsh tone of voice, "I 
suppose you want some of your money back." He intimated he 
did, and then she had the cheek to offer him one dollar. The man 
remonstrated, stating he did not consider that honesty; and, while 
hesitating as to whether he would accept it or not, she cooly 
walked away, and said that he had abused her, and she would not 
give him a cent back. Thus, he paid for four days more than he 
received value; and, as the law allowed her to retain a week's 
board unless a special bargain for day rates was made, which he 
had no witnesses to prove, she had and took the advantage of him. 
But if a stranger had gone to her house and stayed a week, and 
only paid for three days, and then left without paying for the 



it's nice to be a stranger. 563 

other four, she would have called him a dead-beat, a fraud, an 
impostor, and looked upon every stranger who afterwards came to 
her house with an eye of suspicion. 

The most sensitive class of people to board with, as I have 
stated, are those who once have seen better days, but over whose 
heads the cloud of misfortune has passed, and rendered it neces- 
sary for them to do something for their subsistence. I remember 
just such a family in Pennsylvania. They were honest, very polite, 
tasty and orderly about the house, and set a splendid table, but 
carried out their aristocratic notions and mode of living as far as 
possible; they had their own dinner at three o'clock, after all the 
boarders were through, with the table reset. They carried their 
heads high, were never to be seen in the parlor in a social way 
unless some friend called on them, were just as exclusive and con- 
servative as they knew how to be. The only member of the family 
who seemed to visit the parlor was their father, a good-hearted, 
pleasant old gentleman, but a little odd or peculiar in his way, and 
calculated to make a stranger nervous by the continual thumping 
of his stick on the floor. As a student of human nature, I was 
anxious to find out what the real motive of their seclusive and 
exclusive conduct was; so, one day, I ventured to remark to a lady 
in the house, whom I had seen visiting the old gentleman's room 
frequently and therefore concluded was either a relative or intimate 
acquaintance, that I guessed the family tried to be aristocratic, 
and I said it in a pleasant way, not meaning any offense or harm. 
That remark solved my problem, for if a bombshell had exploded 
there, it could not have stirred things up in that house much 
more. They were boiling over with indignation. " They were 
not trying to be anything more than they were." But their man- 
ner and quick temper proved the contrary, and showed clearly 
that they had been touched on a very sensitive point; for if they 
had been real aristocrats, they would not have condescended to 
take notice of it, much less get into a rage and excitement that 
tended to bring to full view the ugly side of their nature, which 
before had been concealed by the thin veil of formality and exter- 
nal politeness. Undoubtedly, they had a right to live as they 
pleased; but, figuratively speaking, what is the use of people 
wearing things that do not belong to them, and trying to live in 
an element or atmosphere that is not. natural to them? True, it 



564 it's nice to be a stranger. 

might have been natural to them once, for all I know, but circum- 
stances alter cases, and when people cannot mold circumstances 
to suit them, they must do the next best thing — adapt themselves 
to the circumstances. 

There is no disgrace in taking in boarders, nor is there anything 
to be ashamed of about it. It is just as respectable as any other 
business; but there is something to be ashamed of when such 
persons with a profession of piety, or at least Christian- civiliza- 
tion, put on airs with a stranger or their boarders, and manifest an 
unsocial spirit towards them, when they are really making their 
bread and butter out of them. Some persons who want to avoid 
the name of boarding-house, get out of it by explaining to people 
that they have a large house which is rather lonesome, and so take 
a family in to make things more cheerful. I admit, however, that 
there are families who generously receive some acquaintances to 
live with them, more to accommodate the acquaintance than 
themselves; to such my previous remarks will not apply. 

There are so many sweet things in the life of a stranger as he 
travels through the country, that I cannot begin to enumerate 
them all, so the reader must be content with just a few, and guess 
the rest for himself. It is so nice, for instance, to walk into a hotel 
and pay for your bed, thinking you will have a pleasant night's 
rest, but discover, as you roll in, that the centre of the bed has a 
hollow laige enough and deep enough to accommodate the back of 
a camel, and when you chance to drop into the land of dreams, 
then it is so nice to be awakened from your quiet slumber in the 
middle of the night by some one coming in from a night's frolic 
and walking along the hall, whose feet come down like a sledge 
hammer, clearly indicating that their sense of decorum is rather 
dull. If the hall is carpeted, then perchance their loud conversa- 
tion will arouse you. Like a boarding-house in Cincinnati, to 
which I was recommended as being one of the best in the city. 
And I should say it was, if dissipation is one of the things that go 
to make up a first-class house. Imagine two or three young men 
coming in early in the morning or middle of the night, who have, 
perhaps, just returned from the hill-tops, where they resort to drink 
lager beer and spend their evenings, and on entering their sleep- 
ing rooms commence singing songs. And think of the cook in 
the same house, who guzzles down enough beer to make her so 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 565 

stupid that she spoils your dinner, and then, to make things still 
more interesting, have a fidgety, nervous, talkative, inquisitive and 
somewhat officious landlady sit at the head of the table and take 
notice of what you eat, occasionally asking why you prefer this or 
that. Night disturbances, however, are more general in hotels 
than in private houses, though I must say that the Cincinnati 
boarding-house I have just referred to, while beautifully located 
and nicely furnished, surpassed all other places I ever stopped at 
or ever expect to for wildness, fast life and lager beer drinking, 
etc. With many of the boarders, their great aim seemed to be, 
females as well as well as males, to convert the uninitiated over to 
their reckless mode of life. Their sociability and lively natures 
were all right, if they had only been properly directed. 

I have noticed that when a person first goes to a house they 
generally interest themselves in getting his baggage up stairs, but 
by the time he is ready to go away, their enthusiasm often cools, 
and he may get his traps down and out the best way he can. And 
when you get to the depot, it is so nice to see the baggage-master 
handle your trunk as though he took it to be a foot-ball, that 
might be kicked and knocked around any way, tumbled upside 
down, pitched down full weight in one corner, or let drop three or 
four feet. In fact, express and railroad men act as though they 
thought trunks were made to be smashed to pieces as quick as 
possible, and that nobody has any right to have anything inside 
that will not stand all the abuse they feel disposed to give it. If 
they find the trunk a little heavy, they have the cheek to ask what 
you have got inside, and if you do not tell them, or rather inform 
them that that is your business, they get mad, weigh your trunk 
for spite, and charge every cent they can. Some baggage-men are 
very polite, agreeable and accommodating, others are ugly, peevish 
and irritable, and can hardly give one a civil answer. Men of 
nervous temperaments are not fit to be baggage-men, because 
they are too easily irritated and lose their temper and patience. 
There is certainly very little fun in that position in the depot of a 
large city, for there is a good deal of hard work, bustle and con- 
fusion; hence, a baggage-master should be a strong and active 
man, cool, patient, obliging, and not easily excited. 

Another troublesome class of people the stranger too often 
meets, are those who are made up of a mixture of conceit, com- 



566 it's nice to be a stranger. 

bativeness and stubbornness. They are always self-opinionated 
and take great delight in working to his disadvantage. If he makes 
a proposition to do anything, or to introduce something new into a 
family, a society organization or community, they at once set their 
wits to work to see how many objections they can find to his plan, 
purpose or proposition. If they cannot find any and it seems con- 
genial to their taste, they will fall in with it, especially if they are 
consulted in the matter; but if they chance to see the slightest 
objection they immediately oppose it, no matter how small the ob- 
jection may be; for such people generally make a mountain out of 
a mole-hill. It never seems to enter into their objecting heads to 
discover how many things or arguments they can find in favor of 
such a proposition or movement, the only question with them being 
whether there are any objections. To explain to the reader what I 
mean, I will illustrate: when lecturing in Saratoga, N. Y., one sum- 
mer, I referred to this class of people; as soon as I was through, a 
clergyman jumped up and said I had described exactly a member of 
his church. He always found difficulty in getting along with that 
brother, because he was everlastingly opposing and fighting the 
resolutions and plans of his brethren as well as himself; and so 
things went on till one day his wife remarked to him, "John, I will 
tell you what is the matter with that man, and how you can manage 
him (and it takes a woman to understand a man and know how to 
control him); whenever you have anything important to be done, 
any new plan to be adopted, or resolution to make, just pat him 
gently on the shoulder, call him aside and consult him about it, 
and get him to make a move in the matter, and be the leading man. 
Tell him he is the man to do it." In other words, it Avas as if she 
had said, Flatter his vanity and make him feel that he is the leading 
spirit in the church, and the one to be consulted on all important 
occasions. He did so, that is, acted on his wife's advice, and never 
had any more trouble with his conceited and objecting member. 
Now, I say, strangers traveling from place to place come in contact 
with just such individuals nearly every day, and according to the 
business or profession of the traveler will be the varied experiences 
and difficulties encountered. In every phase and condition of life, 
this ugly monster appears to mar the peace and increase the trials 
of the poor stranger and weary traveler. A stranger visiting St. 
Louis one summer, went out to a Sunday-school picnic, and while 



it's nice to be a stranger. 567 

there joined a party of young people in a game of croquet. His 
partner, a young lady, with a prominent nose and bump in the cen- 
ter (always the sign of a combative spirit in some form), did not 
understand the game; so he naturally undertook to tell her what to 
do, but her conceited objective nature rebelled. She got mad, 
threw down the mallet and coolly walked away. But if her partner 
had let her knock the balls around just as she pleased, and con- 
sulted her as to what was best to do every time they played, instead 
of attempting to teach her (for young women are not willing to be 
instructed by their gentlemen associates), things might have gone 
all right, and instead of looking cross she would have smiled her 
sweetest all through the game. Then, she evidently disliked to 
receive information from a stranger. If her partner had been some 
intimate acquaintance she would no doubt have gracefully yielded 
to his directions. So in the business world such characters are a 
great source of annoyance. How often has the sale of goods or 
property been prevented, or an agent representing some firm, com- 
pany or association been foiled in carrying out his plan, closing a 
bargain or making an engagement, because some Mr. or Mrs. ob- 
jector opened his or her objective battery just in time to spoil the 
arrangement. Such people are forever throwing cold water on new 
enterprises. They never try to warm things or people up, unless 
it is with the excitement their opposition causes. They are to 
society what breeching is to the horse, always pulling back and 
retarding the growth and progress of things. They constitute the 
non-progressive element of society. When a new theory, philoso- 
phy, science, religion or invention dawns upon the world, they fight 
it with all their might just because it is their nature to oppose. 
It was this class of people who crucified Jesus Christ, condemned 
Socrates to death, and laughed to scorn Fulton. They seem to 
have a peculiar antipathy towards any person or thing that is 
novel, strange and untried. Hence their conduct is generally 
uncharitable toward strangers, and he must by some means in- 
gratiate himself into their good will and friendship before he can 
ever hope to do much with them. The prevalence of this feeling 
so largely in human nature has had a great deal to do in creating 
or developing much of the humbuggery and imposition that is 
practiced all over the country; one evil of this kind generally 
giving rise to another. 



568 it's nice to be a stranger. 

In my youthful days I became interested in various societies, 
chiefly temperance and literary, but in time I became thoroughly 
disgusted with them because most of the time was consumed in 
discussing business matters, and two or three members generally 
had the most to say, would get up just to hear themselves talk, 
object to things purely for the sake of discussion, and frequently 
they would- wax so warm in their arguments and in party spirit, as 
to retort with personal and offensive allusions. Thus, the aim, ob- 
ject and usefulness of many a society is frustrated by the spirit of 
contention growing out of a conceited, combative and headstrong 
disposition. Frequently school boards and city councils do little 
else but argue, wrangle and quarrel the whole evening over some 
insignificant affair that a couple of old women would settle in a few 
minutes. In fact, my experience with school boards has about led 
me to believe that in some respects they are a public nuisance. It 
is too complicated a piece of machinery to be easily managed and 
requires too much time to get anything attended to, and too 
frequently they become mixed up with politics. Nor am I alone in 
this opinion of school boards. Many a superintendent of public 
schools in large cities will corroborate this statement. They are by 
far too jealous of their little authority, and too often feel like a dog 
with a bone. The president of one school board remarked to me 
that he would not on any consideration be a member of a board 
again after his term expired. Why, said he, if the principal of our 
high school wanted to buy a tin dipper for the children to drink 
out of, he could not do it without applying to the board, and they 
would sit and pass a resolution authorizing the purchase of a cup 
with about as much gravity as though they were listening to their 
grandfather's funeral sermon. Then it is frequently the case that 
the wrong men get put into the board. They may be divided into 
three classes: ignorant men, narrow-minded men and technical men. 
The ignorant men do not have sense or judgment enough to dis- 
cern what is best for or in the interest of education, hence they 
are not likely to adopt a system of education much above their 
own mental plane. The narrow-minded have such small, cramped 
ideas that they simply clog the wheels of intellectual progress, and 
if a stranger was to pass through their town or city and offer to 
give the school children a lecture or entertainment of practical 
value, and one perhaps they seldom would have an opportunity to 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 569 

hear, their narrow minds would be sure to keep it out of the school; 
but if a bird show came along they would be very apt to let that 
in. The technical class are the over-wise kind. They are very 
strict and sharp about rules and regulations, and they keep many a 
good and useful thing away from the children because they insist 
on carrying out the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of it. 
Lawyers generally come under this class, and they are for that rea- 
son almost the worst individuals that can be put into a public school 
board. They are too particular about details, the constitution, by- 
laws, etc. Not that I mean to say there should be no rules or laws, 
or that care should not be taken to enforce them, but it is the 
nature of the average lawyer to lay too much stress on them, and 
thereby fail to see the point of other things of still greater impor- 
tance, on the same principle that a close, saving business man may 
be penny wise and pound foolish. 

Occasionally, when in my travels I have applied to one or more 
members of the board in reference to giving a lecture before the 
school, they would object to any arrangement that would interfere 
with school hours, never seeming to realize that the information 
the children would get from me in the hour taken, would be far 
more than what they generally get from a teacher in the same time; 
for the simple reason that any lecture worthy the name of a lecture 
will contain more thought than an ordinary text-book lesson, es- 
pecially when that lecture is the result of years of study, travel and 
observation. But I have noticed that children are often kept at 
home, excused or dismissed from school for half a day or a whole 
day for reasons of much less importance. I remember one place 
where the school board gave the children a holiday so they could go 
to the circus then in town, and when I tried to lecture to the same 
children the next day, I found them so excited and demoralized I 
could do very little with them. Then school boards act funny and 
are short-sighted in reference to the children or themselves paying 
anything to a stranger for his services. They fail to see or consider 
the fact that the children are the greatest gainers, because they get 
about ten times the value of what they pay for. The board, that 
is the objecting part of it, seem to think the stranger is the only 
party benefited. Why not look at it the other way ? I have often 
spent more time and trouble, to say nothing of my lecture and the 
cost of pictures to illustrate it, than I received in money to pay for it. 



5/o it's nice to be a stranger. 

The stranger and traveler is constantly annoyed by the inquis- 
itive and curiosity class of people he is sure to meet in every village, 
town or city of ordinary size. They want to know where he came 
from, where he is going, what his business is, how long he has been 
there, when he came to town and how long he intends to stay? Is 
he a married man, has he any family, has he ever been married, and 
if not, why does he not get married and settle down ? It would be 
so much nicer than traveling around. And then if he should be 
taken sick, what would he do? If he stops at a hotel the hangers 
around immediately rush up to the office as soon as he registers to 
learn his name and where he came from, and then guess as to his 
business. If it is known he is in any kind of public life requiring 
assistance, he will hardly have time to turn around before some 
kind and anxious soul steps up and hands him a business card solic- 
iting his patronage. If a man is a lecturer, the bill-poster or his 
agent is probably on hand and he wants to post him all over town. 
If he succeeds in getting a job out of the stranger, he will throw 
the bills or circulars around as quickly as possible, half a dozen or 
more in a bunch, or stick them up on the nearest places he can find, 
and then have the cheek to charge about twice as much as he ought 
to. Thus the poor stranger pays a big price for work half done, 
with most of his bills wasted and his business or lecture only half 
advertised. Should he stop at a private boarding-house, the ma- 
jority of the inmates will turn themselves into a committee of 
inquiry and investigation. One will find out this thing and another 
something else; then they put this and that together, compare 
notes or observations and statements, draw their inferences, and 
the result is so and so. The poor stranger has been weighed in 
the scales of human criticism, their opinion of him is formed and 
he is treated accordingly. 

Speaking of criticism, I think the most unkind criticism I ever 
heard was by one woman concerning another, both strangers to 
each other (please excuse the repetition of this incident as it seems 
to fit in here). It was in Saratoga; a few of us were standing on the 
piazza when a lady with a very long trailed dress passed by. One 
of our number, a critical and uncharitable old maid, remarked in a 
very sarcastic tone: "Dear me, I wonder if she is not hired by the 
city to sweep the streets?" But I noticed when she dressed for 
an afternoon's walk she could do her share of street-sweeping too. 



. it's nice to be a stranger. 571 

The old maid allusion calls to my mind another incident that oc- 
curred in a boarding-house in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An old maid 
was stopping there who had been teaching in a female school in 
another state. She was taking a vacation, I believe, and early in 
the morning before rising she had learned there was a stranger in 
the house occupying a room next to hers. From the loud conver- 
sation I overheard, she was in a somewhat excited and unhappy 
frame of mind to think the landlady should take a stranger into the 
house whom she knew nothing of. It is to be hoped, however, that 
her troubled mind was somewhat calmed when she discovered that 
day at the dinner table that I had lectured in the same college she 
was teaching in, and that she herself was one of the audience. All 
old maids, however, are not like the two just referred to. I have 
met some quaint but nice old maids who were splendid housekeep- 
ers and very attentive to strangers. That is about the best thing 
old maids are fit for, anyhow, and I wish a few more of them would 
engage in that business. 

Should a stranger walk down the streets of an average-sized 
town, or even small city, he is stared at with a curious gaze by the 
occupants of every house or store he happens to pass by. They 
stand or turn around and watch him as though he was some strange 
being dropped down from the moon. When walking up to a hotel 
at North Hampton Beach (a small but stylish summer resort), I was 
very closely scrutinized by a lady sitting on the veranda; and, as 
I passed her, she gave one of those inquisitive, searching, knowing 
and curious smiles, so peculiar to her sex. She seemed to say: 
"Well, now, there is something curious and funny about you, which 
I do not exactly understand; you seem to look respectable, but I 
hardly think you are a fashionable man." Those were evidently 
the kind of thoughts passing in her mind, judging from her facial 
expression. 

To the small boys he is a sort of monkey-show, and they watch 
his movements with a marvelous degree of interest. Men and 
women on the streets take a general survey of his person and 
clothes; they scan him from head to foot, especially his clothes, as 
it is from his dress, particularly his hat and boots, they seem to 
draw their inferences as to his business or rank in society, and the 
part of country he comes from. Like a little girl I met in my 
travels, who after a careful survey of my clothes, remarked: "Silk 



572 IT'S nice to be a stranger. 

hats are not in fashion; they used to be; and this," pointing to my 
whiskers, "is not stylish now; you are not in style anyhow!" 

By the hack-drivers at Niagara Falls the stranger is regarded 
as a sort of human deer, whom they chase up and down the streets 
like bloodhounds, then swarm around him like bees, jump around 
him like grasshoppers, hang on to him like bulldogs, and tease him 
like hungry mosquitoes, to know if he does not want to hire a hack. 
To the hotel runners at Pittsburgh depot, and many other places, 
the stranger is a sort of Santa Claus, whom they swarm around like 
so many children, each trying to get a morsel. One grabs his 
satchel, another his arm, and a third gets in front of him, while 
others, who cannot get any nearer, yell at him; and if it be a lady, 
she may be thankful if she forces her way through without getting 
her shawl or cloak pulled off of her, so desperate are they to take 
everybody to the hotel they represent. 

Sometimes, however, the residents of a place become objects of 
interest and amusement to the stranger. While waiting for the 
cars at Trenton, N. J., I noticed two ladies of mature years, pretend 
to kiss each other good-by. One of them had hardly any lips to 
kiss with, they were so thin; and the other one was not much 
better, except the lower lip was a little fuller. There was no heart 
in their kissing, whatever; and as for the amount of affection and 
friendship exhibited in the act, they might as well have rubbed 
their noses together, like the horses do. 

On one occasion, while writing a postal card in the hallway of 
the post office, in Norfolk, Va., a young man about eighteen or 
twenty years of age came in, in his shirt sleeves, and walking up to 

me, inquired if there were any letters for Mr. . One would 

naturally suppose that a young man of his size and age would know 
how and where to ask for a letter in the place in which he lived. 

While looking into a shop window on one of the streets of 
Chicago, another young man came up and wanted to know if I 
could tell him where John Smith lived. I asked him the number 
and street he lived on. He did not know. "Well," said I, "what 
business is he engaged in?" He did not know that either; all the 
directions he had was John Smith. I informed him that he would 
have a nice time finding John Smith in Chicago, if that was all he 
knew about him. 



IT S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 573 

Passing along the streets of Providence, R. L, one day, I met a 
lady who, as she passed me, straightened herself up into a dignified 
position, and turned her head slightly around as though looking in 
another direction, at the same time casting a sly glance at me, as 
much as to say: "Now, I am a very dignified lady and do not wish 
to appear as taking any notice of you; but at the same time I 
would just like to see, out of curiosity, whether you are taking any 
notice of me." 

A young girl in Iowa, who had heard me lecture in the public 
school she attended, accosted me the next day on the street, and 
propounded the following question: "If you please, sir, I should 
like to have you tell me if you think I am ugly." 

Then there are a great many questions put to strangers simply 
by knowing, inquisitive and talking looks, for looks and actions 
sometimes speak louder than words. On one occasion, when walk- 
ing along the street in Ocean Grove, a summer resort on the 
Atlantic coast, I met a fashionable young lady who had evidently 
just purchased and put on a pair of fancy slippers, who, on ap- 
proaching me, tucked up her dress, gave a hasty glance at her feet 
and then putting on a cute, arch, smiling expression, which only a 
handsome young lady knows how to do, looked into my face as 
much as to say: "Did you see my new slippers, and do you not 
think they are nice?" And how often will these charming young 
maidens, when meeting a stranger on the street who has the ap- 
pearance of respectability, cast an inquisitive and anxious look into 
his face, as much as to say: "I wonder if he is single." 

But, on the other hand, there are many really bright spots and 
happy incidents in the life of a traveling stranger, which help to 
heal the many wounds he receives from the suspicious and unchar- 
itable public. Beautiful scenery, beautiful houses and cities, and 
beautiful faces, all help to gladden his heart wherever he roams. 
Kind words and acts greet him here and there. New acquaint- 
ances and friends spring up wherever he goes, who help to lighten 
his burden, and strew his future pathway with flowers of joy and 
the sunshine of happiness. Sometimes his eyes rest upon the relics 
or footprints of other strangers who have passed by before him; 
like a few touching lines of poetry I saw, written by a stranger, on 
the walls of one of the oldest church ruins in the country, located 
in Petersburg, Virginia. I had taken a ride out of the town a short 



574 IT ' S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

distance, to see the crater, that memorable spot where the terrible 
explosion took, place during the late rebellion, when the Union 
soldiers blew up one of the rebel forts, and lost afterwards five 
thousand men in attempting to hold it. On returning, I stepped 
out of the carriage into the cemetery, to see the old church. I found 
it covered with ivy, the doors and windows gone, but the walls 
were standing and the roof on. Part of the ceiling had tumbled 
down, and there was nothing left of the gallery but the frame work, 
the position of which indicated that those who used to sit there 
must have found their heads nearly touching the ceiling, as it was 
so high up in proportion to the building. The lines referred to had 
been painted on a board and nailed to the end wall; but for some 
reason best known to the party who put it there, it was fastened 
up so high that one almost required a telescope to read it. It 
reminded me of the way railway officials put up their notices and 
rules at the* depots and other places: generally so high or in some 
out of the way place, that people have to stretch their necks and 
strain their eyes to read them. Following are the verses which 
evidently sprang from a heart filled with reverence for things old 
and sacred, and as that is a strong element in the English charac- 
ter, and the church was built when this country was under British 
government, it was most likely written by some Englishman visit- 
ing this country. Not having time to copy it just then myself, an 
accomplished young lady of Petersburg kindly gave them to me. 

Lines written on the walls of Old Blandford Church, built 1735, 
Petersburg, Virginia, by an unknown person, supposed to have 
been Tyrone Powers, an English Actor: 

Thou art crumbling to the dust, old pilel 

Thou art hastening to thy fall; 
And 'round thee in thy loneliness 

Clings the ivy to the wall. 
The worshipers are scattered now 

Who knelt before thy shrine; 
And silence reigns where anthems rose 

In days of "Auld Lang Syne." 

And sadly sighs the wandering wind, 

Where oft, in years gone by, 
Prayers rose from many hearts to Him, 

The Highest of the High. 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 575 

The tramp of many a busy foot 

That sought thy aisles, is o'er; 
An 1 many a weary heart around 

Is still forever more. 

How doth ambitious hope take wing, 

How droops the spirit now ; 
We hear the distant city's din, 

The dead are mute below. 
The sun that shone upon their paths 

Now gilds their lonely graves; 
. The zephyr which once fannei their brows, 

The grass above them waves. 

Oh! could we call the many back, 

Who gathered here in vain ; 
Who careless roved where we do now, 

And will never meet again. 
How would our very souls be stirred, 

To meet the earnest gaze 
Of the lovely and the beautiful — 

The lights of other days. 

When visiting Florida one winter, I met a gentleman who, during 
the rebellion, stood in the old church yard, fighting and firing over 
the grave of his mother and several other relatives. 1 remarked to 
him: "Your feelings must have been tender and peculiar." "Yes," 
said he, "they were; it was one of the many strange incidents of 
that awful and desolating war." 

It is astonishing how many persons a stranger meets in his 
travels who belong to the know-nothing class. They do not seem 
to know where the places of importance and interest are located in 
their own city. Ask two or three persons how far it is to a certain 
point in the city or just outside of it, and one will tell you it is a 
mile, another two miles, a third three or four miles, and probably 
the fourth would say, it is a mile and a quarter, and be about right. 
I remember trying to find a place in Toronto, Canada, and having 
inquired of a store-keeper where it was located, he told me to keep 
right ahead, it was about a third or half a mile distant. Not seeing 
a street car in sight I began to walk, and after going the distance 
I was directed, made further inquiries and was told it was six blocks 
further on. I went the six blocks, inquired again and was told it 
was about eight blocks more, then I must turn to the left and go 
three or four blocks further. That is about the experience stran- 



576 it's nice to be a stranger. 

gers often go through with in visiting a strange city; and he may 
be thankful if he does not often be sent in the wrong direction. 
Many people do not know the population of their own towns or 
cities, or where their public schools are located, or -the churches, 
but they generally know where the theaters are. The know-noth- 
ing class are generally posted on public amusements. They know 
what is on the boards in the different theaters, but ask them when 
or where some literary performance is to take place, and very few 
of them know anything about it; and if they do, ten chances to one 
they do not understand the subject or nature of it. I remember the 
case of a young man going into a store where tickets were for sale 
for my lecture on physiognomy, to find out from the agent if there 
was anything immodest about it, and would it be a fit thing to take 
a young lady to. When lecturing in Iowa one winter, I advertised 
a lecture to ladies in the afternoon in one of the churches. They 
evidently thought they were going to hear and see something awful 
funny, for some of them drove in their carriages and looked into 
the windows to see if any other ladies were present; and in another 
place the ladies went into the adjoining houses and waited to see 
if any others came before they would venture in. I went to hear a 
lecture myself one evening in Virginia, on astronomy, and observed 
sitting immediately in front of me a young man and his girl; but it 
was evident he was not there to hear the lecture but simply because 
it was an opportunity to take his girl out. He was a very inatten- 
tive listener, twisting and wiggling all over the seat, sometimes 
with his back to his girl and sometimes his face. The only thing 
that tickled his fancy, was when the speaker in referring to the 
superstition of people concerning the moon's changes in affecting 
human acts or destiny, alluded to courting, and said if he was going 
to give any advice on that subject he should recommend people to 
commence with the full moon and keep it up till the honeymoon. 
That pleased him, and he laughed all over. The only thing the 
poor fellow seemed to know anything about or have any taste for, 
was girls and courting. I have met persons living right near some 
place or object of special interest for months or years, and on ask- 
ing them a few questions concerning it, would always receive the 
usual answer, "Do not know; have not been there myself yet, but 
have often thought about going." I presume there are plenty of 
people living within a hundred miles of the Niagara Falls who have 



ITS NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 577 

not seen them yet. And some of these interesting types of human- 
ity can tell you more about some remote object, person or place, 
than they can of the things, places or persons that surround them. 
They remind one of that class of tourists who have the traveling 
mania so bad that they go to see all the curiosities and pla.es of 
interest in foreign countries before they do those of their own coun- 
try; hence when they get to foreign countries and some one asks 
them about the scenery, cataracts and mountains of this country, 
they have to hang their heads down, look foolish and admit they 
have not seen them. The foreign stranger regards them at once as 
objects of curiosity, for they remind him of persons who commence 
to learn foreign languages before they have hardly learned the 
alphabet of their own. An Englishman visiting this country heard 
an American who had been to England praising the lakes of Switz- 
erland as the most beautiful in the world. Said he, "I beg your 
pardon, sir, but you have more beautiful lakes in your own country 
than can be found there; one in particular." " Where is it, or 
which lake do you refer to?" asked the surprised Yankee. "Lake 
George," replied the Englishman, and then the former had to ac- 
knowledge he had never seen it. The know-nothing class are not 
apt scholars, their minds are not easily impressed, they seldom 
grasp a new truth or idea, are not eager in the pursuit of knowledge, 
are slow, old-fogyish, and non-progressive in spirit, and if a stran- 
ger should attempt to put an idea into their thick heads, he would 
find them something like the people along the Hudson and Mohawk 
Valley in New York state; so well fortified in their old notions, 
stupidity and conceit, that his effort would most likely be a failure. 
They would be apt to tell him, "Yes, I have often heard so, and 
used to do so and so myself." 

Two Georgia Legislators were in conversation with another 
gentleman, in Atlanta, and the conversation turned on Chicago. 
One of them inquired: "About where does Chicago lie? Is it not 
just above Savannah, on the coast?" Then the other wanted to 
know the population of Chicago: "Is it as large as Atlanta?" 
(Atlanta being a city of 40,000.) 

How often have I been into Sunday-schools, churches, places of 
business, public halls and seen the urgent need of a little whole- 
some advice by way of reform and improvement, and thinking I 
might be able to do them some good have cheerfully offered to give 



578 it's nice to be a stranger. 

them advice, suggest improvements or remedies, and sometimes 
offered my services; but, alas! my words fell on their dull ears with 
apparently no more effect than a few drops of water on a duck's 
back. The know-nothings prefer to remain in the old rut and 
either wear it out or themselves. Too frequently these know-noth- 
ings get into office, and then they hang to all the old forms, habits 
and inconveniences of their predecessors and associates, with a 
death-grip. They would fight like gladiators to defeat any inno- 
vations upon their established customs. Every suggestion byway 
of improvement or reform, or the introduction of any new invention 
is met with doubt and cold suspicion, as was the case when appli- 
cation was first made to the English government to build a railway, 
and one of the members of parliament present asked the represen- 
tative of the company if he meant to lay down two rails through 
the country and run an engine over them at the rate of thirty or 
forty miles per hour, to which he replied in the affirmative. "Well," 
said the member again, "suppose a cow was to step on the track 
when the train was coming along at full speed ?" The daring rep- 
resentative responded that he thought it would be a bad thing for 
the cow. And so the know-nothings generally take the opposite 
and wrong view of anything new. 

A stranger is constantly coming in contact with another class 
of beings known as dead-heads, dead-beats, etc. They are always 
on the lookout for a new victim in the shape of a stranger, because 
they can generally play their small, selfish tricks much better on 
him, than they can on the people who know them. Dead-heads 
and dead-beats abound in all classes of society, and their name is 
Legion. They loom up wherever the poor stranger sets his foot. 
Naturally there is very little suspicion in my character, and when I 
first started out in the world as a phrenologist and lecturer, being 
somewhat anxious to see and know human nature in its various 
phases, I frequently allowed myself to be slightly taken advantage 
of, or imposed upon, and I am not sure that I have quite got over 
it yet. That is one of the best ways in the world to learn to read 
character; to allow people to act out their intentions and carry out 
their designs; only be careful not to place yourself too much under 
their power. They may be conceited enough to think they have 
stolen a march on you, but it is really the other way. You have 
learned an important lesson and they have been the instructors, so 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 579 

that you understand similar physiognomies afterward and know how 
to protect yourself. It is on the same principle that one person 
plays a mean trick on another. The individual who does the mean 
act injures himself the most, even though he may be the gainer in 
some respects. He may in his mean business-tricks make money, 
but he really injures his own soul and in time he will have a face 
to correspond with his mean nature. The few personal incidents I 
give under this head are not fiction, but plain, unvarnished facts. 

At the close of one of my lectures in Iowa, a man stepped on 
the platform, shook hands with me in a cordial manner, remarking 
at the same time, "Professor, I am a plain man, but I should be 
happy to have you come and take dinner with me to-morrow." I 
replied that if he would give me his address, I would be pleased to 
accept his invitation. So the following day I called at his house, 
was courteously received and shown to the dining-room. Dinner 
being over, I was asked to take a seat in the parlor, which I had no 
sooner done, when in walked a bouncing, well-formed, strong and 
amorous-looking young woman, but not very intelligent or aesthet- 
ical in her nature. Being introduced, the first query by the gentle- 
man who invited me, was, "What do you think of that young lady? 
Do you not think she would make a good artist?" I could not say 
yes, without lying, because she had not much more taste for art 
than a Hottentot; so I told him I did not think she would. "Well, 
what is she best fitted for?" was the next query. I replied that the 
best thing she could do was to get married. That settled the mat- 
ter. She left the room and I was not troubled to read any more 
heads for nothing. That was what I was invited to dinner for, and 
I saw through it as soon as I entered the parlor. It was cheaper to 
them to invite me to dinner, get on the social side of me and then 
take advantage of it, than to pay for it. A lady physician once 
gave me a similar experience. She said some of her acquaintances 
would often invite her to tea, and when she got there she would 
find some of the family slightly sick, and they would want to know 
what was the best thing to do or take. Under the circumstances 
she could not very well refuse her advice, and so they got a pre- 
scription for a meal or ten cents worth of victuals. At another 
town in Iowa where I was stopping, I was invited into the parlor 
and introduced to some of their prominent townspeople and re- 
quested to read their heads; nothing being said about it before I 



580 it's nice to be a stranger. 

reached the parlor. I was of course politely compelled to do it or 
give offense. And that is what I call a cheeky and mean way of 
taking advantage of a man. 

When lecturing in Virginia, a young man accosted me on the 
street and wanted a free ticket to go to my lecture, and said he 
belonged to the Press Association. I always like to accommodate 
such individuals, but I thought there was a little of the humbug 
about him, so I referred him to the ticket agent, and he recognized 
him as an old hand at dead-heading. Sometimes in visiting schools, 
as many as half a dozen teachers will surround me and begin to 
make remarks, one about the other, and how they would like to 
know what was in each other's heads; and if I do not come to time 
with such hints, some one or two of the number will make a direct 
request of me to read their heads. Of course, if I was to read one, 
I would have to go through the whole crowd or the rest would be 
displeased. Teachers and preachers seem to think they ought to 
get everything for nothing; at least, quite a number of them do. 
One minister called on me and asked me to give him a copy of my 
work on "Human Nature and Physiognomy." I did so, and about 
a year afterwards he called again, and said I ought to give him a 
chart of his head. That is what I call, not black-mailing, but 
white-mailing. He had got on the generous side of me once, and 
so he thought he would politely make me keep it up. I had no 
acquaintance with him whatever; he was an entire stranger. An- 
other preacher bought one of my books, and not feeling able to pay 
for it at the time, I told him he could send the money when con- 
venient. He kept the book about six months and sent it back, 
stating that he had other expenses and did not feel able to keep it. 
He had read it and soiled it, and had no more use for it; so it was 
cheaper to send it back than to pay for it. We were both stran- 
gers. If I had been living in the city he would scarcely have done 
it. Two other ministers bought my book on time and have not 
paid for it yet, and, I presume, never will. I have a good deal of 
respect and reverence for a minister of the gospel, but I must say 
that a good many of them are not only dead-heads but dead-beats. 
Frequently, at the close of my lecture on physiognomy, people will 
rush up and ask me in an abrupt manner: " Professor, what kind of 
a nose have I got?" "What do you think of my face?" "What 
am I fit for?" And numerous questions of that kind. 



IT S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 



58l 



Mere curiosity is of no great benefit to people; it simply leads 
them far enough to want to see a thing or know something about 
it; but not far enough to investigate a thing, understand it, and 
make a practical use of it. With an intelligent mind, curiosity may 
lead to new truth, knowledge and discovery; but with the crowd, 
or average man and woman, it begins and ends in sight-seeing 
and amusement. Like the old lady who went thirty miles to hear 
Barnum lecture. He, hearing of the fact, went and shook hands 
with the old lady after the lecture, and asked her if she really came 
to hear him lecture or out of curiosity to see him. "Well," said 
she, "Mr. Barnum, to tell you the truth, I have heard so much 
about you that I wanted to see you." And there are thousands of 
people all over the country just like this old woman; they will flock 
to hear some noted character lecture — especially if there is some 
high-toned scandal attached to his name — just to look at him, 
when they do not care two straws about the lecture itself. And 
so there are plenty of people who are anxious to know what a 
phrenologist thinks of them, providing he is kind enough to tell 
them for nothing. They have plenty of money to spend for tom- 
foolery, such as novels, circuses, shows of all kinds, tobacco, drink, 
drugs, quack medicines, chewing-gum, candy, and the indulgence 
of the passions in bad habits, but none to assist them in under- 
standing themselves. Good things they expect to get for nothing, 
but bad things they are willing to pay for handsomely; the more 
the merrier. 

I sometimes think that men are about half monkeys and half 
fools, and that women are the greatest curiosities on earth, for 
they want to peep into everything and know something about 
everybody but themselves. Men rush headlong into all the follies 
of life without stopping to consider the consequences, and there is 
where they are fools. Wise men will consider their ways, but fools 
will laugh at their own folly, and despise advice or reproof. They 
are half monkeys because they are just as lustful, just as apish in 
their manners, and almost as low in their habits, and are as full of 
tricks and general deviltry. Women are the greatest curiosities 
because they are so full of curious ways and artful devices; so 
hard to understand, and so one-sided in their ideas of life. That 
is, they are influenced and controlled more by the appearance of 
things and persons than by their actual value. In fact, curiosity 



582 it's nice to be a stranger. 

is born in a woman, and therefore becomes a part of her character. 
You may study her until you are gray-headed and still find mys- 
teries in the chambers of her soul; and you will at last, probably, 
come to the conclusion that a woman is the greatest curiosity and 
strangest mixture of good and evil on earth. To a stranger she 
often becomes a kind of human chameleon, because her conduct 
and actions are about as changeable as are the colors of that 
animal. There is only one phase of a woman's character you can 
rely upon with positive certainty, and that is when she is in love. 
Then you may trust her, and she will stick like a hungry leech. 
Then she will do anything for you — lie, cheat, steal, and some- 
times murder, or do the maneuvering for it. Yes, it is possible for 
a woman to love a man more than her own soul; then she is no 
longer positive but negative in character. She loses self-control; 
she has no will of her own. She is controlled by the man she 
adores just about as much as an individual under the influence of a 
mesmerizer, and her character will conform to the character of 
him she loves, be it good or bad. On the other hand, a man is 
frequently the creature of woman's caprice. She leads him around, 
as it were, by the nose, and very often makes a bigger fool of him 
than he was before, especially when his passions get the better of 
his judgment. I repeat, then, that the desire for knowledge which 
arises from simple curiosity does not go far or last long, and is of 
little value in the acquirement of self-knowledge, because unintel- 
ligent curiosity inclines more to the funny, fictitious or amusing 
side of life than to the solid, real and useful. 

A clergyman of some ability, while preaching to a strange 
congregation, saw and keenly felt that he had not the attention 
and sympathy of the audience (without which no speaker of nerv- 
ous susceptibility can speak successfully). This lack of respect 
and interest toward a stranger so annoyed him that he finally 
remarked that he believed people would rather see a monkey 
dance than listen to anything useful. While speaking myself one 
Sabbath in a Massachusetts church, on " Crime and Dissipation," I 
noticed one light-headed fellow sat and grinned at me most of the 
time, and a woman was curiously eyeing me from head to foot and 
criticising every act and word, and, I suppose, wondering if I was 
not another traveling humbug. I need not tell the reader how I 
felt, nor the effect it had upon my discourse. The man's conceit 



it's nice to be a stranger. 583 

and prejudice, and the woman's curiosity and criticism, exceeded 
their desire for knowledge. I have no objections to criticism in a 
public and general way, but I do not like it concentrated in one or 
two individuals, and applied to me on the Sabbath day, when I 
am trying to lecture or do good and receive no pay, not even a 
collection, as was the case in that instance. It is bad enough to 
have one of those conceited specimens of humanity sit and look at 
me as much as to say, "Well, now, I guess you think you are 
smart, but you cannot teach me anything." But when a woman 
with two big eyes sits in front of me and turns them into a battery 
of criticism, I feel — well, I do not feel comfortable. It is almost 
as bad as standing before a loaded Armstrong gun. Besides, a 
man in such a position feels that he is laboring for naught, because 
his words fall on the hearer like rain on an umbrella. Nor is it 
the criticism that I object to, but rather the unfriendly and unkind 
spirit from which it springs. Nowhere will a stranger feel it so 
much as when he is talking to a Christian audience, where he 
would naturally expect to find the spirit of charity, rather than 
criticism and prejudice arising from preconceived opinions and 
hasty judgment, which is generally prompted by a perverted use 
of the organs of human nature and comparison. Frequently lec- 
tures and sermons are spoiled by the way people receive the 
speaker. A cold, lukewarm, indifferent and repulsive spirit on the 
part of the audience, or a few people in it, will tend to freeze up 
the ardor and free thought of the speaker. His mind becomes 
harassed and confused, ideas do not flow freely, there is too much 
mental friction, which a little sympathy on the part of an audience 
would relieve. This is not simply my own experience, but that of 
every public speaker. In fact, the influence of one mind upon 
another is felt through all the public professions of life. Musi- 
cians, singers, actors and actresses, as well as performers of every 
description, can all play, sing, act and perform better when stimu- 
lated by the hearty appreciation and approbation of their hearers 
and observers. 

To illustrate a little further a woman's curiosity and curious 
ways, her acts and tactics in doing business, or finding out what 
she wants to know at as little cost as possible, I will mention a 
few other incidents. When lecturing in an eastern city, a widow 
wanted her son's head examined. She got a gentleman acquaint- 



5 84 it's nice to be a stranger. 

ance to find out for her what I would charge, as she could not 
afford much. I told him I would reduce my price if she was really 
not able to pay much, as I always like to be liberal toward widows 
or any poor individuals anxious to make the most of themselves. 
He said hers was a case of necessity, but I found out after I had 
given her the chart that she was in very fair circumstances. There 
are plenty of widows who have property and good homes, and a 
stranger cannot always ascertain these things even if he is a 
phrenologist. While in a southern city, lecturing, a young lady 
at school wanted her head examined, and, of course, she wanted 
it cheap, too. So she got another person to find out if I would 
make any reduction if three of them came together, and being 
informed that they were not able to pay much, I consented to 
a reduction, and stayed over a day longer, partly to accommo- 
date them. Finally, the young lady who made the inquiries 
put in an appearance, got her chart, and said the others would 
try to be in at such an hour; that she came ahead so as to 
give me time, knowing I was in a hurry to take the train. Soon 
she left, but returned again to tell me that the other girls did 
not really want their heads examined, they were only thinking 
about it. It is hard sometimes to tell what girls do want; they 
hardly know themselves. Like two young ladies at the Chicago 
Exposition, v/ho were going to buy one of my fifty-cent pamphlets 
on physiognomy, which they were looking at, but, turning around, 
they saw a fine display of candy. They had just so much money 
to spend, and so it was physiognomy or candy; they had become 
quite interested in the book, but they also liked candy. They had 
an old love for that, and so the new love for physiognomy could 
not be expected to be as strong. Their mouths were just watering 
for it while they discussed which they had better buy. Finally 
their stomachs prevailed over their intellects, and the fifty cents 
went for candy. True, they could buy candy anywhere and any 
time, but not my book on character-reading, but their curiosity 
was not strong enough to lead them to such a practical conclusion. 
When at one of the watering-places on the Atlantic coast, I met a 
lady who seemed to have more vanity than anything else, or 
rather a desire for flattery. She was a woman's-rights advocate, 
and got an impression that I was prejudiced against her on that 
account, and though anxious to have her head examined, thought 



it's nice to be a stranger. 585 

I would not treat her fairly. She would often make remarks, try- 
ing to draw me out. I found her curiosity was not strong enough 
to induce her to pay for an examination, and she probably thought 
I ought to compliment her by doing it free. So at one of my 
lectures, when I needed subjects, she came forward, and I gave 
her, as I thought, a fair description, except that I probably let her 
off a little easier than I might have done had the examination 
been private. Still, she was not satisfied, she must know exactly 
what I thought of her; and when a woman is so desperately 
anxious to know what another thinks of her, it seems hard not to 
let her know, even if she is not willing to pay for it. The next day 
another lady of the house came to me with flattery on her tongue 
and deceit in her heart. She had cunning black eyes that seemed 
to sparkle with deviltry, and as she commenced conversation, she 

put on a smiling face, and with gentle words, said: "Mrs. 

was not very well pleased last night with her examination, was 
she?" I replied I did not know. Said she: "You told her she 
was too fond of praise and flattery, and she does not think so; but 
I think you were quite right, for I know she likes to be praised." 
"Yes," said I, "it is so strong in her as to be disgusting." And 
the manifestation of that characteristic had been so frequently 
thrust upon me that it was really annoying, especially when an- 
other party came to quiz me for her, as she evidently did. And I 
really did not care whether my statement was repeated to her or 
not; for the only way to cure some people of a fault or bad habit 
is to correct them in such a way that they will not forget it, even 
if it does make them angry for the time being. So J told her to 

be sure and not tell Mrs. what I had said. Oh, no, she 

certainly would not do such a thing as that. Still, I expected she 
would, and I remembered how Jesus Christ once charged a person 
to ^o and tell no man what he had done for him, but he went 
away and published it all the more. Jesus knew, of course, that he 
would do it, and if he had not been told to hold his tongue he 
would not have been half so anxious to use it. Tell a boy he must 
not do a thing, and he is all the more anxious to do it. The 
moment you put restraint upon people, the more anxious they are 
to throw it off; but, if they thought you were anxious they should 
do or tell a thing, they would not be half so willing to do it. Just 
as I was leaving this lady I requested her again to be sure and not 



586 it's nice to be a stranger. 

to tell. All at once curiosity seized her and she was anxious to 
know how far I could read her; so, in a half-tantalizing and chal- 
lenging way, she said: "You ought to know beforehand whether 
I would tell or not." I simply looked at her but gave her no 
answer, then quietly walked away, leaving her to answer her own 
question. Well, that nettled her, of course; her curiosity was 

excited and not satisfied. She told what I said about Mrs. , 

whether just what I said I do not know (because statements are 
seldom repeated as they are given), and the next time I saw Mrs. 

she looked as black as a thunder-cloud at me. But I was a 

better friend to that woman than one who would do his very best 
to please and excite her abnormal desire for praise. I never like 
to hurt any person's feelings, either man, woman or child, and I 
never intentionally do it; but when they force me to speak about 
them, and I have to either lie or give offense, I prefer to offend, 
even if I lose friends and money by it. Phrenology is too valuable 
a science to be molded to suit the whims and vanity of human 
nature. Why, when I was in Saratoga, one summer, a mother 
wanted her youngest daughter's head examined. The rest of the 
family (all sisters) were in the room, and a preacher who had 
become intimate with them, especially the one I was going to 
examine. She was a girl in short dress, quite voluptuous in form, 
somewhat sensual, and possessed of more of the animal nature 
and impulses than of intellect or spirituality; and before I began 
to examine, or rather describe her character, the mother was very 
urgent in her request that I should tell everything just as I found 
it. She wanted to know it all. People who are sensitive and fond 
of flattery generally want to know it all, especially the bad quali- 
ties, and if I tell them all, they get mad as snakes or do not 
believe it, and if I fail to speak of some faults, then they think 
they are not half examined. I did not suppose I should have dis- 
charged my duty if- I had not warned her of the danger and 
temptations to which that girl was exposed, and given her advice 
as to how she should be educated or trained. She was a good- 
hearted girl, but not inclined to the thoughful side of life. To 
make the matter worse, the officious clergyman had to turn himself 
into a lawyer and commence questioning me on points he had no 
business to do — questions which were proper to be put by the 
mother or older sisters only. The result was that the mother and 



it's nice to be a stranger. 587 

family, who were so anxious to know all, learned too much. They 
were mortified, for the mother was evidently quite proud of her 
daughter. If I had praised that girl, and made her out smart and 
intelligent, and left out the amative part, or only partially de- 
scribed it, she would have been delighted and would have thought 
the world of phrenology, and would have been friendly to me. 
Instead of that, she manifested unkind and unthankful feelings. 
Any man or woman who gets angry at a phrenologist for telling 
them in a professional way, and with kind and unprejudiced feel- 
ings, what their faults and besetting sins are, is, in plain language, 
a fool. What have I or any other phrenologist to do with people's 
characters, or their heads or bodies? We do not make them, and 
are in no way responsible for their peculiarities. It is only the 
conceit of people that makes them kick against the truth and the 
person or science that reveals it. As well get angry at the sun 
for bringing to light the dust and impurities in your house. What 
do people go to a phrenologist for but to learn what they are, 
their deficiencies and excesses, so that they may make the most of 
themselves; and if they are going to get angry at anybody, it 
would be more sensible to charge it to the account of those who 
brought them into the world. It is the parents who are respon- 
sible for what their children are and what they are not. I never 
met a man or woman yet who ever thanked me for giving them a 
good head, good talents, or moral qualities. They may be pleased 
with my delineation of them, as is most generally the case, but 
they never seem to think that phrenology or the phrenologist is 
responsible for their having a good disposition and ability. Then, 
why become displeased when the phrenologist, much to his own 
dislike, has to point out the opposite? He would be only too glad 
to please everybody with a complimentary description if he could 
honestly do so. The humbug may do so anyway in order to get 
at your pocket-book, and some people would patronize that kind 
of a phrenologist much sooner than one who tells the disagreeable 
truth. 

Perhaps one of the most annoying things connected with the 
life of a stranger is, that he is nearly always made the subject of 
gossip. Indeed I do not know what the mischievous gossip-mong- 
ers would do, if it were not for the poor stranger. Frequently 
their gossip runs so high as to become almost or quite a scandal. 



588 IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

It will depend somewhat upon the strength of the gossiper's imag- 
ination and disposition to exaggerate. Occasionally he finds him- 
self misrepresented, his statements misconstrued, magnified and 
spread abroad like wild-fire over the whole community; and he, 
entirely ignorant of the influence which is working against him, 
until he accidentally hears a remark from the small boy, or some 
friend comes and tells him. 

When I was in Virginia, a hotel man commenced to run down 
the public schools in his town, because he had to pay taxes to 
educate the colored people. I told him that it was cheaper to 
educate them and make them respectable citizens, than to allow 
them to grow up worthless and lawless. "Yes," said he, "but let 
them educate themselves." "But," said I, "they are not able." 
"Well, then, let them do without," he replied. He was willing to 
hire them, make all the money he could out of them, but not will- 
ing to assist them to reach a higher plane of civilization. But 
what better sentiments could one expect from a man who left his 
hotel (the best in the town) to be run by a few darkies and his wife, 
while he himself sat around all day in his dirty shirt-sleeves, and 
whittled a stick. A few remarks were passed between us without 
any desire on my part to enter into a discussion of the negro ques- 
tion, and there the matter dropped, as I supposed; but a few days 
afterward I discovered that it had been circulated through the 
town that I had made statements hostile to the sentiments of the 
southern people, when I had done nothing of the kind. Nor do I 
believe that the better class of southern people would respond to 
that man's sentiments; certainly not the thinking class that I met. 
It seems next to impossible for the majority of people to repeat a 
statement just as they hear it; hence it is that even acquaintances 
as well as strangers are often misunderstood, and a great deal of 
ill-feeling is caused in that way. 

Strangers are not expected nor hardly permitted in some places 
and on some occasions to have any mind or opinions of their own. 
If they do and assert them, it will either ostracise them from society 
or interfere with their business. But more than that, a stranger is 
often prejudged from mere imagination and suspicion, as I was in 
Saratoga, one summer. I had arranged to deliver a discourse on 
"Crime and Dissipation" in one of the halls of that place; and in 
conversation with one of the clergymen in reference te the subject 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 589 

he said he was afraid when he first saw the notice of the manner 
in which the subject would be treated, or that I would not be in 
harmony with them and their work. Now what right had he to 
interpret me or my subject in that way, before hearing me or hear- 
ing of me ? Would it not have been a little more charitable to 
have thought just the opposite ? It is a common, even every-day, 
occurrence, for people to form opinions and come to conclusions 
about things and persons they know little or nothing about. Hasty 
judgment makes it very unpleasant for all parties concerned. A 
similar case occurred while I was visiting a church fair in New York 
State. I was talking with one of the men about giving a lecture in 
their church; and as we left the building one of the ladies called 
him back, as he afterwards informed me, and told him that I was a 
Spiritualist, and that he had better be careful. A week previous, 
some gentleman, stranger, who was a Spiritualist, had lectured in 
their high school; so as soon as she saw me she concluded, without 
asking any questions to find out, that I was the same person; and, 
of course, being a Methodist, she became suspicious and prejudiced 
against me without any just reason. 

Yes, it is so nice to be a stranger when you want something 
done. Perhaps your coat is out of order and needs repairing, the 
pockets particularly, so you take it to a tailor. He looks you over 
and says to himself: "Now I may as well make a dollar or two easy 
out of this fellow; he is a stranger here, and may never be through 
this way again." So he takes your coat and tells you when to call, 
or when he will return it. At the appointed time, perhaps, you 
receive it; and, most likely, being in a hurry, you do not stop to 
inspect the coat very minutely, but pay the charges and suppose 
everything is all right, until you put it on; then you discover that 
he has repaired one pocket, and fixed the other by sewing it up. 
There is no end to the ingenious ways people resort to in order to 
make a few cents or dollars extra out of a stranger. 

One beautiful day, when I was in Virginia, I went to a picnic at 
Magnolia Spring (a sulphur spring), about fifteen miles from Nor- 
folk, and three or four miles from Suffolk, Va. They had refresh- 
ments for sale on the ground, but not being very hungry I thought 
I would try a Virginia sandwich, though I do not say that all picnic 
sandwiches in Virginia, are like the one I bought. I sincerely hope 
not, for really it was not a sandwich at all; simply one piece of dry 



590 IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

bread rind meat, without butter. I called the waiter and asked him 
if he had any butter; "No," said he, "it is too hot." "Well, then," 
said I "please give me a small piece of pickle," for I needed some- 
thing to help get the stuff down. Meanwhile, one of those lovely 
but dishonest creatures called women, who had charge of the table 
opposite to me^ sat and took a quiet but steady survey of my ap- 
pearance, and, I judge, said to herself: "That man has got plenty 
of money, and it is real mean of him not to order a fifty-cent 
dinner; but I will fix him; I will make him pay for that piece of 
pickle." And sure enough she did. I was charged just fifteen 
cents extra for that half of a pickle, about the size of her dainty 
little finger. But what could I say when a pair of black eyes said: 
"You must pay it' 1 ? What is the use of rebelling, though I am 
free to confess that I would almost as soon have a woman take 
fifteen cents out of my pocket as charge me for what I do not get. 
For it is not the amount I care about so much as the principle of 
right and wrong; the polite way of stealing and putting a man in 
such a position that he can neither kick nor squeal without looking 
rather small. 

But speaking of picnic experiences reminds me that I came 
near being served worse than that once. It was the first picnic 
I ever attended in that part of the country — a Chicago Sunday- 
school affair — and not^ knowing the way they were conducted 
and supposing I could get something to eat on the grounds with- 
out any difficulty, I took nothing of an eatable nature with me. 
I discovered when lunch-time came that the picnic was conducted 
on that cold, unsocial and clique style of dividing off into family and 
party groups, leaving the poor stranger entirely out in the cold. 
That is just where I was left, for not being much acquainted, nobody 
took any notice of me or invited me to their table, and of course I 
could not invite myself, so I walked around looking as foolish as a 
lost chicken or child; everybody eating, laughing and staring at 
me, but never seeming to think or care that I had a stomach that 
needed filling as well as they. At last I sat down, with my mind 
about made up that there was no fun for me that day, with the 
gnawing of an empty stomach and the pleasure of seeing others 
enjoying themselves, and I — too far from the city to buy anything. 
But relief and joy came at last in the form of two sweet and friendly 
little girls who had no one to eat with them, and as they stepped 



IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 591 

up and kindly invited me to their cheerful little table, spread on 
the green grass, it seemed as though two little fairies had come 
after me, and if ever I felt like praying, "God bless the dear 
children," I did then; not simply on account of my stomach, but 
because I felt lonesome and sad, and their merry voices and winning 
smiles sent a thrill of joy through my heart; for they seemed as 
happy as two queens themselves to think they had a gentleman to 
take dinner with them. Never shall I forget those lovely little 
girls, and I question if I shall ever enjoy a meal more than I did on 
that occasion. 

Of all places in the world where sociability, good-feeling and 
hospitality ought to be extended to the stranger, picnics and church 
sociables are just the places, for nowhere else does he feel so awk- 
ward and at a loss in knowing what to do with himself or how to 
act. Such gatherings are just the places where strangers expect 
to go and ought to go to get acquainted, and where everybody is 
expected to get off their high-horse, throw off city and society 
formalities, and all meet on a common plane for the time being, at 
least. But, alas ! the devotees of fashion, folly and formality gen- 
erally carry their reserved, seclusive, exclusive and clique spirit 
wherever they go. And I fear that this very spirit, so prevalent 
among even Christian people, has driven many a stranger to ruin. 
Think of the thousands of young men, and women, too, who are 
constantly flocking into the cities, hundreds of miles from their 
homes, if they have any, and strangers to nearly every soul they 
meet. Think of the influences that surround them, the severe trials 
they endure, and the numerous temptations to which they are ex- 
posed, and then, reader, do you wonder that a large number of them 
either fall or are led, partly by force of circumstances and partly by 
their own impulses and passions, into the by-ways of sin that 
eventually end in ruin, to ail who have not sufficient courage and 
self-control to keep themselves pure? There are probably few per- 
sons more exposed to temptations and difficulties, than the stranger 
and traveler; few more in need of kind words and sympathy; other- 
wise he soon begins to feel that nobody cares for him, and then he 
probably loses self-respect and cares not even for himself. I will 
mention one incident to illustrate this point. It is the experience 
of a Christian young lady I became acquainted with in Chicago, years 
ago. She said when she first came to the city she was poor and 



592 IT'S NICE TO BE A STRANGER. 

could find no employment for four or five months. She sought 
employment, but in vain. Finally, one evening; as she was standing 
on one of the river-bridges, when it turned to let a vessel through, 
she in a moment of despondency walked to the end of the bridge 
and was going to jump into the river, but remembering that she 
had papers about her that would lead to her identification should 
her body be found, she decided to postpone her attempt at suicide 
till another evening. That saved her life; she gained strength 
again and battled on till she gained success. 

Every stranger does not meet with the same reception, the same 
difficulties, or pass through the same experiences. Some have a 
thorny way to tread, while the pathway of others seems to be 
strewn with roses. Some readily make friends and acquaintances, 
others have not that gift. Some deserve far more sympathy than 
they get, others not half as much as they receive. Some are bless- 
ings in disguise who scatter the aroma of goodness wherever they 
go and find hearts ready to receive it, others are wolves in sheep's 
clothing who prey upon the unsuspecting and infest almost every 
community. Some climb the ladder of fame and rise to eminence, 
while others pursue their course in humble, quiet life. Thus runs 
the line of human destiny, thus ebbs and flows the tide of life. 

I have written these pages to illustrate another phase of human 
nature and in defense of those much-abused and misrepresented 
individuals called strangers, and to show that there are two sides 
to this question as well as others; for where there is one stranger 
who victimizes the people, there are probably twenty strangers 
victimized and imposed upon by the people. The difference is, 
that when a stranger is taken in he generally has to grieve and bear 
it, and very few people as a rule know anything about it, but let a 
stranger take advantage of any person or community, or commit 
any indiscreet act in a moment of temptation and it is heralded all 
over the country; when, if the truth was really known, he may not 
be half as bad as he is often made to appear by the coloring given 
to his actions, through prejudiced minds or the causes which have 
led him to do wrong. So I decidedly object to the uncharitable 
and suspicious way in which strangers are too often treated. There 
is no necessity for people acting like so many strange cats toward 
each other, just because they are not acquainted. It only goes to 
show that there is a good deal of cat-nature in them, or they would 



it's nice to be a stranger. 593 

not do it. Human beings ought to be governed by their intellec- 
tual and moral natures in their intercourse with each other, rather 
than by the mere animal. Cats and dogs are all sociable when they 
get acquainted, but unfriendly and suspicious of each other when 
they are not, and I am sorry to say that is about the way with the 
human family. As one of our American humorists states it : — 



The cat, the pup, the yellow dog, 

Forget all thought of fray, 
And throughout Nature's cat-alogue 

Love holds dog-matic sway. 

The chicken-hawk swoops from above 

To woo the hen obtuse; 
The guileless fox soon learns to love 

The fierce and warlike goose. 

The meek and philanthropic mule — 

The bards his virtues tell; 
He loves to soar, and as a rule 

Makes others sore as well. 

Alas! that man, of all, alone 
Should hate his ferlow man; 

Explain, dear friend, that heart of stone- 
Confound me! if / can. 



PHRENOLOGY. 



The word phrenology is formed from two Greek words, which 
signify a discourse on the mind. Franz Joseph Gall, a German 
physician (born 1758, died 1828), was the discoverer of this valuable 
science, and began lecturing thereon at Vienna, Austria, not quite 
a century ago; he and Spurzheim were the founders of the only true 
system of mental philosophy the world has ever seen. Since their 
time, or immediately following Spurzheim, Geo. Combe, an able 
metaphysician, wrote and lectured' on the science. Gall and 
Spurzheim examined and explored the roots or foundation of the 
science, as it were, on its anatomical and physiological basis, 
while Combe launched out more into the metaphysical aspect of 
phrenology. Numerous phrenologists with divers systems have 
appeared in the field since, but these three stand out conspicuous 
in the discovery and early development of the science. 

I claim that phrenology is a science like astronomy or geology. 
Phrenology is not at the present time an exact positive science 
like mathematics; that is the only science which demonstrates a 
thing, and if you take the exact or proving part away from mathe- 
matics it is no longer a science, and would be as useless as a well 
without water. Here it is where the public or skeptical class have 
made a great mistake and done phrenology gross injustice — they 
have measured it by, or compared it with, mathematics, and de- 
manded altogether too much, especially as the science is yet in its 
infancy. Very few brilliant minds have given their talents to 
further its development, whereas plenty, like Sir William Hamil- 
ton, have done all in their power to oppose and prove it false. 
But, like the Bible, it has stood all these attacks, and will stand as 
many more, and still grow stronger and clearer in the minds of 
the people as the years r&ll on, because it is founded on the rock 
of truth — founded in the very anatomy of the human constitution 
— and has been demonstrated to the world by thousands of ex- 




EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, K. G. 



The Motive Temperament. This is the temperament that, combined with the 
mental, produces great characters — men who influence a nation and move the world. 
They are leaders and conquerors, but not servants. A strong, solid, practical character. 
Note the prominence of forehead over the eyes, and the angular, bony face. 



PHRENOLOGY. 595 

perimental and incontrovertible tests. Every phrenological ex- 
amination by a good phrenologist is, on the whole, proof of its 
accuracy. 

I do not claim either that phrenologists know as much about the 
science as is desirable, or as they would like to know. Human nature 
is so varied and mixed up, and human life so short, and so few, com- 
pared with other professions, such as law and medicine, have cared 
to investigate it, that it is impossible for any living phrenologist 
to possess more than a very limited, inaccurate knowledge of the 
mind, brain and body, and their relation to and influence upon 
each other. I do claim, however, that a thorough phrenologist 
and physiognomist can give an individual many useful hints and 
much valuable information in reference to his physical and mental 
organization; that he can put him in the way of understanding 
himself and making the most of himself, because when a man 
knows the strength of all his faculties he knows pretty nearly when 
he is thinking right on a subject and when he is not; and when he 
knows the strength or deficiency of his bodily organs, he knows 
better how much or little he can accomplish, and how to take care 
of himself. 

Phrenology is the science which unfolds character by the shape 
of the skull, and tells what parts are most largely developed or 
deficient; whereas physiognomy reveals character by the form and 
expression of the face and features, and tells the workings of the 
brain or what parts of it or individual organs are mostly exercised, 
and the two are as inseparably connected as the Siamese twins. 
You cannot take away the one without destroying or rendering of 
no effect the other. Physiognomy is the mind's thermometer; 
phrenology, the map of the brain and mind. Phrenology tells 
what we may or ought to be; physiognomy, what we are — that is, 
when you look at a person's face, you see the kind of character he 
then possesses and has been developing all through life. Physiog- 
nomy relates more to the past and present of the individual 
character, whereas phrenology relates more to the future and 
present of his development and character. 

Scientifically considered, phrenology and physiognomy are re- 
lated to anatomy and physiology, because anatomy treats of the 
structure of the brain and body, and physiology of the functions 
of the bodily organs. Philosophically considered, it relates to 



596 PHRENOLOGY. 

metaphysics and psychology. Hence, it will be observed, phre- 
nology and physiognomy really take in the whole man, body and 
soul. A great many medical men have glanced at phrenology 
simply from an anatomical point of view, and because they could 
not materialize it and dissect it, have concluded that character 
cannot be analyzed and described by the formation of the skull. 
They have overlooked the metaphysical and psychological side of" 
it, and forgotten that the subtle influence of mind upon body, 
through its appropriate channels, the nervous fluid and blood, can- 
not be traced with the dissecting knife. When any faculty or 
propensity becomes active it excites to action its corresponding 
organ in the brain, which in turn manifests its activity upon the 
external surface of the skull. Just how it is done I do not know, 
nor the doctors either, and it makes no difference to the phrenolo- 
gist, nor anybody else, whether the inside of the skull corresponds 
exactly to the outside in every part or not. It is the outside he 
has to do with, not the inside; and it is the outside that the brain 
impresses its power and activity upon. Throughout all nature, 
animate and inanimate, the external reveals the internal, or what 
is within expresses itself outside, just as the mechanical move- 
ments inside of a watch are indicated on the face of it. In the 
main, however, the inside of the skull corresponds to the outside; 
but this fact should always be remembered, that when any organ 
of the brain is weak or inactive it does not make much impression 
upon the skull, which, as a consequence, remains thick in that 
part; but the organs that are large and active produce a friction 
upon the skull and wear it thinner; and if the reader will take the 
pains to examine a skull by holding it between a bright light and 
his eyes, he will observe some places to be more transparent than 
others; then the skull really grows and enlarges to suit the brain. 
Two busts now in Paris, taken of Napoleon, show that his head 
was larger after he became emperor. 

That the brain and mind is a combination of parts performing 
different functions and manifesting diversities of character, instead 
of a unit capable of but one act at a time, and requiring the whole 
power of the mind and brain to accomplish that act, I offer the 
following reasons: 

First. — Because all the powers of the mind are not equally 
developed at the same time, but appear in succession at different 



PHRENOLOGY. 597 

periods of life; just as in some animals, the sense of sight appears 
sooner than, the sense of hearing. Hence, if the mind were a unit 
instead of being made up of a number of faculties having as many 
corresponding organs in the brain, then every human being and 
even animals would be as complete and perfect as soon as they 
were born into the world as ever they would be; that is, as far as 
their faculties and propensities are concerned. In other words, 
if the mind is a unit, then all the faculties and propensities would 
be manifested at the same time; there could be no gradual devel- 
opment or unfolding of their powers; all would necessarily present 
the same degree of perfection at the time of birth. 

Second. — Because genius is always partial in its manifestation. 
No person has ever been known to be a genius in everything. 
He might possess a genius for poetry, or oratory, or art, or music, 
or mechanism or inventions, but not for all of them. The man 
who tries to be smart at everything is pretty sure to be smart at 
nothing. History furnishes no record of any man possessing great 
genius for more than one or two things. Whereas, if the mind 
and brain were a unit, every soul must necessarily be just as smart 
at one thing as another; all his faculties would present the same 
power. If large in one thing, would be large in all; if deficient in 
one, deficient in all. 

Third. — Because, in dreaming, part of our faculties are awake 
and part asleep, which would be impossible if there were not a 
plurality of faculties and organs. 

Fourth. — Because in partial idiocy and partial insanity some 
faculties are greatly deficient or deranged, while others are power- 
ful and healthy in their operations. No person is idiotic in every 
respect; nor was there ever a lunatic insane on every subject. Go 
into an insane asylum and start up a dance, and you will see all 
the lunatics who learned to dance before they became deranged 
glide out on the floor and dance to the music about as well as sane 
people. Now, if the mind is a unit, and the brain one organ, they 
must of necessity be crazy on every subject. 

Fifth. — Because in the case of accidents, where part of the 
brain is injured, and some of the faculties or propensities are im- 
paired, it does not equally affect all, which must be the case if the 
mind were a unit acting upon one organ. Nor will it help the 
matter much to admit there is a plurality of organs and functions to 



598 PHRENOLOGY. 

the brain but not in the mind, because if the mind is a unit it can 
only act on one organ at a time, and could only do one thing at a 
time, whereas we know we can do two, three or four things at a 
time. A person can play a piano, read the music, sing and think 
all at the same time. We can walk, think, talk and laugh at the 
same time. How could we do it if possessed of but a single mental 
power? Again, we find that the same law that applies to the 
gradual growth and development of the child's faculties and pro- 
pensities is applicable in the gradual decline of the faculties and 
propensities in old age. All of them do not begin to wane at the 
same time. The memory of old people often fails before their 
reason, and while the power of the procreative propensities are 
gradually diminishing, the moral and spiritual organs grow brighter 
and more active. How could these things be if mind and brain 
were a unit ? 

I assert, then, and leave the skeptical physicians and metaphy- 
sicians to disprove it if they can (I say skeptical, because a good 
many able physicians and scientific men believe in phrenology), 
that the only reasonable explanation that can be given of man's 
diversity of talents, of his being apt and good at one thing or in 
one mental manifestation, and at the same time deficient in some 
other, is, that the mind is composed of a plurality of faculties 
having as many corresponding organs in the brain, and that as 
each faculty is strong or weak, so will be its manifestation through 
the brain; and from this cause springs the great diversity of 
human character, tastes and talents. There would not be much 
variety in the trees of the forest and the flowers of the fields and 
gardens if every one of the same kind was made just alike in 
shape and size. Neither could there be much variety in the 
human family if every man's mind was a unit in power, and his 
brain a single organ, or the next thing to it, because the opponents 
of phrenology are only willing to allow two or three general divi- 
sions of the brain, but object to the theory of each convolution 
being a distinct organ or performing a distinct function. The 
more highly developed any organized being is, the greater variety 
of propensities and faculties will he possess. Hence, man being 
the highest of all terrestrial beings, he is possessed of a greater 
number of faculties in different proportions, and therefore pre- 
sents a greater variety. 





Very low development of brai 



High development uf brain. The more 
intellectual brain there is, the higher will 
the head be over the eyes. 




The Grecian nose and Egyptian outline of face, which consists in the forehead and 
nose being almost on a straight line. 




This is a reversible head, and by turning it upside down gives two faces and expres- 
sions. Laughter draws the corners of the mouth upward and backward; hence, in the 
drooping corners, we have the opposite, or serious, melancholic disposition. 



PHRENOLOGY. 599 

BENEFIT OF PHRENOLOGY. 

The study of phrenology and physiogncmy is the most im- 
portant, useful and interesting study in the world. Only those 
who have made it a study, and followed its teachings far enough 
and long enough to be benefited by it, can possibly understand its 
value to mankind, individually and collectively. There is no 
science or pursuit of knowledge the investigation and acquisition 
of which will better develop the intellectual faculties, especially 
the perceptives, which render men practical, and impart a matter- 
of fact, common-sense cast of mind which can apply itself to 
almost any calling in life. So that, apart from its intrinsic value 
as a means of knowledge, it is particularly beneficial, even essen- 
tial, to the development of the most important powers of the 
mind, and necessary to the successful accomplishment of every 
enterprise and transaction, whether it be of a business, social or 
religious nature. 

I hold, therefore, that every man, woman and child should have 
a general knowledge of phrenology and physiognomy, and espe- 
cially should teachers and ministers understand it, so that they 
might know better how to deal with human nature, and the more 
easily reach their minds and hearts. 

Every person should likewise have a chart of his head. A 
picture of the mind and character is really of greater importance 
and value than a picture of the face. To know wherein we are 
deficient and excessive is an imperative duty devolving upon every 
person who would make the most of himself or herself, and fulfill 
the grand object of life. Our own perceptions and conceptions of 
our personal character, nature and ability, are only partial, and 
therefore imperfect. It requires some standard or rule by which 
we can measure — by which we can determine — the actual and 
relative strength of all our faculties; not only in their individual 
and collective relation to each other, but in their relation to the 
capacity of the same faculties in other minds. When people assert 
that they know all about themselves, or more than any one else 
can tell them, they not only show their conceit and ignorance of 
themselves, but also how little they know about a science that, 
when applied, can reveal to them more of the inner man than they 
ever thought of. 



600 PHRENOLOGY. 

Why spend half a lifetime trying to find out what calling in life 
you are best adapted for, when phrenology will point out your 
course before you commence? 

Why train and educate children wrongfully, through ignorance 
of their physiological and mental nature, when a good practical 
phrenologist can tell more in ten minutes about their hidden traits 
of character and natural tendencies than parents will learn in ten 
years ? 

Why plunge into a matrimonial hell, when phrenological advice 
might have put you into a matrimonial heaven? Why marry 
through ignorance of physiological principles or laws, and have 
your children die before they are twenty or thirty years of age, 
when proper marriage would have given long-lived sons and 
daughters? Why bring into life weak, sickly, passionate, dull, 
half-idiotic specimens of humanity, when parents might just as 
well be the progenitors of strong, healthy, moral, bright and intel- 
lectual children, who will be the joy and pride of their parents and 
a blessing to the world? 

The study of phrenology will enable a man to understand him- 
self, and the better he understands himself the more he can make 
of himself; because, when he understands the peculiarities of his 
own mind, he will know more definitely when he is thinking 
right or wrong concerning a subject, especially in business and 
social matters. Half of the blunders men make come from their 
not knowing themselves mentally and physically. Do not let your 
indifference or stinginess prevent you from spending a few dollars 
to learn all you can about your talents or deficiencies. I notice 
people have plenty of money to spend for nonsense and things 
that are decidedly injurious to both body and mind. 

I shall be pleased to make examinations and fill out charts for 
any who may call on me when they have an opportunity. Those 
who cannot reach me personally can have a description by sending 
two well-defined photographs — a front view and a direct side 
view; also stating the color of the hair and eyes. Prefer to have 
pictures from negatives not retouched, as the likeness is often 
changed, so many of the lines of the face being worked out in 
retouching the negative. Any other statements the person sending 
a photograph may wish to mention, such as age, height, etc., will 
be acceptable. I cannot mark a chart, however, or give a relative 



PHRENOLOGY. 601 

or proportionate scale of all the organs, nor give as full and com- 
plete a description as I can by seeing the person, but if the 
pictures are good and give all the lines and shades of the face, I 
can give a good general description of the leading characteristics. 

APPLICATION OF PHRENOLOGY. 

I do not know of anything connected with man's health, talents, 
character, business, happiness — in fact, everything pertaining to 
his career in life — to which phrenology cannot be successfully 
applied; neither do I know of anything where it is not necessary. 
The man who hires a clerk or employe for any purpose would find 
it to his advantage to know something about the private as well as 
general character of that individual. And the employe would 
likewise find it to his advantage and convenience to know a little 
more about his employer's traits of character than he generally 
does. The salesman would better understand how to deal with 
customers, and the purchaser how to bargain with the seller, did 
they better understand human nature, and consequently each other. 

But there are two methods or ways especially in which I believe 
phrenology will be some day applied, and I hope that day is not 
far distant. One is, that all parents will deem it an imperative 
duty to leave to their children a full and detailed phrenological 
description of their heads — a mental picture — so that their off- 
spring may know wherein they resemble their ancestors; and by 
comparing the charts with the life or character of their parents, 
they will better understand their own peculiarities, their excesses 
and deficiencies, and their natural tendencies. What an amount 
of practical knowledge and a blessing this would be to every son 
and daughter ! And what would not some persons give to know 
more about those who brought them into the world, but, through 
death, left them in early life, so that they had no opportunity to 
know them mentally? Could there be any greater pleasure and 
interest growing out of family relationship than for people to be 
able to trace back to their grandparents and great grandparents 
their temperaments and mental characteristics, and thus be able, 
by comparison, to see wherein they resemble them, and what con- 
ditions of character they have inherited, to a certain extent, from 
their fathers' ancestors, and likewise from their mothers'? This 
would be a blessing hitherto unknown to the human race, and the 



602 PHRENOLOGY. 

benefits of which none can estimate. They could likewise see 
wherein their ancestors had been properly or improperly mated — 
learn the relation which the temperaments sustain to each other 
in marriage, and thus know the best combination favorable to 
bright, healthy offspring. So, by a comparison of the phreno- 
logical organs, they could learn why some parents are unhappy 
in their union. This would be a lesson of great practical impor- 
tance, because to know the mistakes of others is to know how to 
avoid failure ourselves. 

The second application of phrenology is in the proper selection 
of a conjugal companion. What is the law to be observed in 
marriage? Just this: Marry one whose heart and spiritual nature 
is in harmony with your own, but whose temperament is different. 
Violate this law, and you certainly will bring misery upon yourself 

and partner, and entail sickness and early death on your posterity. 
v 

But there is another reason why persons should consult phre- 
nology or a phrenologist in regard to marriage. Modern courtship 
is a farce, a sham, a deception, a lie. The object of courtship 
should be for the two parties to become familiar with and thor- 
oughly understand each other's peculiarity of mind and character, 
ways and habits, so as to enable them to judge whether they can 
love each other constantly, and thus live happily together. Do 
they do this? Perhaps one couple out of a hundred may; but the 
great majority conceal all objectionable traits of character and 
reveal only the most pleasing and fascinating. The object of each 
is merely to try and win or capture the other; and very often all 
kinds of devices are resorted to for accomplishing this purpose. 
As marrying is the most important event in one's life, every 
precaution should be taken to insure success, and guard against 
being mistaken. 

PRINCIPLES OF PHRENOLOGY. 

Phrenology reveals character by the form of the head and the 
size of its organs, and is the parent of physiognomy. 

Physiognomy reveals character by the shape of the features 
and the expression of the countenance. 

I ask the reader's careful consideration of the following prin- 
ciples: 

I. The brain is the organ of the mind, spirit or soul. 




The expression of patience and watch- 
fulness. 




The keen, quick, penetrating and search- 
ing eye. 




Timidity. Destructiveness small. Tim- 
id animals protect themselves chiefly by 
running; destructive animals by fighting. 




Sagacity and Retaliation. Observe the 
knowing expression of the eye and square 
build of the animal. 




Destructiveness very large. Observe 
the wide face and head, and severe ex- 
pression. 




A dull and stupid expression. A kind 
of forsaken and old-maidish look. 



PHRENOLOGY. 603 

2. The brain is a plurality of organs; one or more of them can 
be exercised or brought into action independent of the others; 
each, however, being in sympathy with the others, and all sus- 
taining a mutual relation. 

3. The temperaments form the basis of human character, and 
determine the nature or direction of the organs. 

4. The size of any organ or head indicates its power. 

5. Any organ can be increased by exercise and decreased by 
non-exercise. 

6. The quality and fineness of the organf and features deter- 
mine the character and the ability, activity and brilliancy of the 
mind. 

7. The perfection of man's entire character — religious, moral, 
intellectual and commercial — depends upon the equality of all the 
organs and temperaments, and their even and proper exercise. 

8. The depth of the convolutions of the brain is the measure 
of the amount of mind — the index of genius. 

9. Whatever organ is most active at the time being determines 
the action of the will at that time; and whatever organ or organs 
are the largest and most active determine the general character. 

10. The constant and intense exercise of one or a group of 
faculties, to the entire neglect of all the others, will in time 
produce insanity. 

11. Individual character is partially hereditary and partially 
developed by education. 

12. The healthy action of the organs of the brain will depend 
upon the healthy action of the organs of the body. 

13. Diversity is a law of nature, and no two persons are or can 
be precisely alike in every particular: so no two persons can, in 
the nature of things, think, feel and act just alike. Hence, growing 
out of this law, phrenology recognizes, as the birthright of every 
individual, liberty of person, thought, conscience and will, pro- 
viding such liberty does not injure the person or morality of any 
other being, or conflict with the laws of God. 

DEFINITION OF THE PHRENOLOGICAL ORGANS 
AND TEMPERAMENTS. 

No two persons are exactly alike, either in appearance or char- 
acter. This diversity arises from the endless combination of the 



604 PHRENOLOGY. 

organs of the mind and body. When the intellectual and moral 
organs have the ascendancy over all the other organs of the 
system, or, in other words, where the upper portion of the brain 
is most largely developed, it gives rise to what phrenologists call 
the mental or nervous temperament. When the vital organs of 
the body are the largest and most active, they form the basis of 
another temperament, known as the vital. When the framework 
of the body and the muscles are predominant or well developed, 
they constitute what is known as the motive temperament. Some 
phrenologists, however, divide these temperaments, and make four 
of them: the vital, they call the sanguine and lymphatic; and the 
motive or bilious, they name osseous and muscular. There are 
other conditions which depend on the combination of the mental 
and physical organs, which some call emotional, passionate and 
caloric temperaments. 

Temperament is a peculiar state of the constitution, depending 
upon the relative proportions of different parts and organs of the 
body, which tempers the mind, disposition and general character 
on a similar principle as the blacksmith or tool-maker tempers a 
piece of steel. 

There is great difference of opinion as to a proper classification 
of temperaments, and nearly every phrenologist of any note has 
a classification of his own. I hardly think there is any one system 
of temperaments that will describe the constitution of people in 
this age. There is such a mixture of nations and races, so many 
abnormal conditions of the body caused by special avocations, 
injurious habits and climatic tendencies, that to attempt to sum 
them up in a system of two, three or four primary temperaments 
seems out of the question. No doubt, in the early history of the 
race, or at the time of the creation, three or four would have been 
sufficient, but not in the present day. One author claims there 
are only two primary temperaments, and another three; the 
ancients had four, and a modern writer has discarded the term 
temperament, and used the word form, describing the constitutions 
of men by their physical forms. Then, there is a difference of 
opinion as to whether the head or skull should be taken as an 
index of the temperaments or the body. While there may be 
only three or four at the outside of primary temperaments, there 
are, nevertheless, other states and conditions, as well as forms of 



PHRENOLOGY. 605 

the body and brain, that must be taken into consideration in 
describing a person's physical condition, and I shall, therefore, 
define the whole of them, wishing the reader to bear in mind that 
I consider the vital, motive and mental as the three chief tem- 
peraments as most adapted for general use. 

It is the combination of the phrenological organs with the 
temperaments and organic quality, that make up our character 
and talents, and determine our course through life; and he only 
can be a successful phrenologist who has the ability to discern the 
harmony and proportion that these three conditions sustain to 
each other. 

ORGANIC Quality. — Quality of the organization: fine-grained, 
organic purity and sensitiveness; that kind of angelic nature which 
makes the true man and woman, and lifts them far above the 
common and gross things of life. Great intensity of feeling; 
capable of extreme suffering and enjoyment; are much affected by 
excessive heat or cold, especially the latter. Very susceptible; 
naturally inclined to a moral and religious life. Not likely to 
experience any sudden, miraculous change of character in conver- 
sion, but early receive the truth, and gradually become assimilated 
to Christ. Constantly aspiring to something higher and nobler. 

Everybody knows the difference between a piece of fine cloth 
and coarse cloth, between silk and cotton, the uses to which they 
are put, and the occasions on which they are worn; and there is 
just as much difference in the physical and mental constitutions of 
people and nations as there is in wearing apparel. Some kinds of 
timber are fine grained, others coarse. Some animals are fine and 
sensitive in their structure, others coarse, low and slovenly in their 
nature. Contrast the rabbit or deer with the hog. Persons with 
a large development of the organic quality are naturally inclined 
to the moral and intellectual side of life, are progressive beings, 
and will ascend rather than descend; are above low and filthy 
habits and degrading associations, and are not likely to become 
criminals, whereas people deficient in the organic tone are more 
apt to sink into the cess-pools of iniquity. 

HEALTH. — Present condition of the body and mind, especially 
the former. 

Masculine and Feminine Temperaments. — The names of 
these temperaments or conditions suggest their meaning. They 



606 " PHRENOLOGY. 

arise principally from the tenor and quality of the mind, and par- 
tially from some anatomical principle. Like all other temperaments, 
they are inherited, and not acquired, except in a limited degree. 
A woman having the masculine temperament predominant, will be 
strong-minded, lacking that fine and delicate structure of the 
body, that gentle, affectionate, confiding, pathetic and sympathetic 
state of the heart and mind so characteristic of the true woman. 
She will be public-spirited; interest herself in politics, law or 
medicine; aspire to occupations and positions belonging to men; 
believe in agitating woman's rights — in fact, her sentiments are 
neither purely masculine nor feminine, but a sort of compound 
mixture which the world cannot fully understand, much less appre- 
ciate. When a man has the feminine temperament predominant, 
he is, plainly speaking, no man at all; he lacks force of character 
and energy, also strength and depth of mind, and is too effeminate 
to accomplish much. He will be refined and genteel, and find 
employment in some office or business that is light and tasty. 
Will be considerable of a lady's man, or, at least, will tr3' to be; 
but such a man rarely, if ever, fills any position of great impor- 
tance 1 , or accomplishes any great work. 

VITAL TEMPERAMENT. — This embraces the entire system of 
internal organs which create life force: the heart, lungs, stomach, 
liver, bowels, glands, and organs of secretion. 

Motive Temperament. — This temperament indicates the 
bones, muscles and ligaments which constitute the frame-work of 
the system, gives toughness, muscular power, physical endurance, 
and great strength of character; imparts a love of movement and 
work. 

Mental Temperament embraces the brain and nervous sys- 
tem; adapted to thought, feeling, activity, sensation, predominance 
of mind over body. Gives a taste for literature and art, and makes 
man refined and progressive^ 

Sanguine Temperament gives a powerful respiration and 
arterial circulation; great love of physical action, impulsiveness, 
ardency, warmth of attachment, and love of out-door air and field 
sports. 

Lymphatic Temperament indicates activity of the absorbents 
and digestive organs. Excessive development of fat and flesh, 
rendering such persons large and cumbersome, and a burden to 




THE LYMPHATIC TEMPERAMENT. 

DAVID NAVARRI, 
Aged 17 years; weight, 630 pounds. 



The lymphatics and absorbents of the system are so active that the fattening and 
building up process goes on faster than the wasting and pulling down process, hence the 
person not only becomes very fleshy, but sluggish and inactive, physically and even men- 
tally. Such a person is averse to exercise, lacks toughness and endurance, and therefore 
soon tires out, and life becomes a burden, especially in warm weather. They can eat lit- 
tle or much, but are generally small eaters, readily digesting and assimilating what they 
eat, whereas many slender persons will eat twice as much, but do not digest half as well, 
hence remain physically poor, or lean. 



PHRENOLOGY. 607 

themselves, especially in hot weather. Inactive mind and body; 
aversion to motion and labor. 

Phlegmatic Temperament. — I make a distinction between 
the phlegmatic and lymphatic. Both of these are abnormal con- 
ditions, but they temper the mind and character all the same, and 
may, therefore, be considered as abnormal temperaments. The 
phlegmatic is caused by the excessive secretion of the watery 
fluids of the body, rendering it moist, cold and flabby to the touch, 
producing a sluggish circulation and low type of humanity. Such 
persons have too much of the oyster nature about them; are too 
lifeless to ever accomplish much. 

Nervous Temperament is similar to the mental. A person, 
however, may be nervous, sensitive to all kinds of impressions, 
and full of activity, without manifesting much intellectual power. 
He may likewise be a thinker, and possess considerable brain, 
without being nervous and irritable. 

Muscular Temperament indicates large, powerful muscles, 
physical toughness, tenacity of existence, strong and steady pulse 
and nerve, hardness of flesh, and endurance of both body and 
mind. Gives coolness in times of danger, and great tranquility of 
mind. 

Osseous Temperament represents the bony structure of the 
system, gives a large frame, and renders a person somewhat awk- 
ward in his movements. Not easily exhausted, endure hardships 
and severe physical trials. Dislike to trouble others or be troubled 
about trifles, and hate the deceptions and trickeries of fashionable 
life. 

Bilious Temperament. — This temperament is found largely 
in the Jews. It is based chiefly upon the liver and venous system 
of blue blood, and is, therefore, just the opposite to the sanguine, 
which takes its rise chiefly from the arterial or red blood, and the 
lungs and heart. This is the temperament which produces great 
intellects, great sinners and great saints. People having a large 
development of this temperament are liable to bilious diseases. It 
is indicated by dark hair, dark eyes, dark or sallow complexion, 
with bony and prominent features, and angular form rather than 
plump and round, as in the lymphatic or vital temperaments. In 
other words, it is the brunette temperament. The passional and 
caloric conditions arise partly from this temperament. 



608 PHRENOLOGY. 

EXCITABILITY. — Kmotional; it is the hysterical, weeping, 
laughing, hopeful, quick-tempered, and scolding disposition. In- 
tensity of feeling, keen susceptibilities. 

Passional Temperament. — This is partly a combination of 
other temperaments. It indicates large and active propensities; 
hot-blooded, passionate, voluptuous, fond of sensual pleasures. 

Caloric Temperament. — Relates to the temperature of the 
body. Warm-blooded, ability to withstand cold and throw off 
disease. This temperament or condition of the system has much 
influence on the character. It tends to render the passions and 
whole nature more active and intense. It is indicated by the 
touch. Some people, if you take them by the hand, feel very 
warm, others cold, no matter what the season of the year may be. 
The more of the caloric temperament they possess, the hotter 
they vd\\ be to the sense of touch. The skin will also be dry 
instead of moist, as in the phlegmatic. 

Activity. — Quickness, speed, ease of action, liveliness. A 
person having activity, combined with a mental temperament, will 
be very quick to perceive, think, feel, act and speak. Nimble in 
the movements of the body. 

LOCOMOTION. — Love of action, desire to move about, restless- 
ness, dislike to remain in one position long, and are constantly 
moving the hands, feet or head, even when seated; essential in 
walking or running a race. 

VENERATION. — Reverence, devotion, adoration, prayerfulness. 
Respect for old age. Submissiveness, disposition to yield to the 
will of others, cheerfully obey commands, bow to authority, and 
respect superior persons or powers. This faculty is directly oppo- 
site in its manifestations to self-will and selfishness. In the 
Christian it gives love for the souls of men, and imparts the true 
feeling of charity. When excessive or perverted, it leads to' 
fanaticism, bigotry, idolatry, and with large firmness and conscien- 
tiousness, religious intolerance. 

Spirituality. — Faith, forewarning, belief in the future, per- 
ception of truth, inclination to believe general statements, the 
prophetic faculty, desire for novelty and extravagant news. 
Gives rise to credulity, and when very large causes people to 
put too much trust and confidence in others,, especially if friend- 



PHRENOLOGY. 60Q 

ship or benevolence is large. It is the opposite to doubt and 
suspicion, and assumes a thing to be true; imparts a desire for 
knowledge concerning what has been said or written, and there- 
fore inclines a person to reading and literature, providing there is 
a fair degree of intelligence. It delights in things and statements 
that are novel, mysterious, wonderful and extraordinary, and, per- 
haps, as this organ is generally large in children and women, one 
of the chief causes of novel-reading. Perverted: superstition and 
belief in omens; with large cautiousness and average intellect, 
fear of ghosts. 

HOPE. — Expectant, cheerful, joyful, enterprising, exuberant 
spirits. Gives confidence of success in whatever one undertakes, 
even though the clouds of adversity and misfortune may hover 
around. It enables one to meet disappointments and discourage- 
ments in life, and bear them with patience. To endure losses and 
afflictions with calmness and resignation, still hoping for the better 
in the future. The deficiency of this organ is a frequent cause of 
suicides and sometimes insanity. A weak or disordered condition 
of the liver and stomach is generally found with small hope; hence, 
all injurious habits that derange the digestive organs depress this 
faculty and give people the blues. Perverted: expects too much, 
and runs great risks in business. 

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. — Justice, honesty, equity, moral principle, 
love of truth, innate sense of accountability and obligation, regard 
for duty, sense of guilt, penitence, contrition, desire to reform; 
with approbativeness and ideality, will have a strong desire for 
moral purity; with large firmness and combativeness, will stick to 
the truth, even unto death. This faculty, however, does not of 
itself make a man honest; it may even cause him to be dishonest. 
A thief may have it large. When combined with very large 
approbativeness and firmness, it becomes a selfish faculty, and sees 
only its own side of right and justice, and becomes imperative in 
its demands for self, overlooking what is right and just toward 
others; and if there is not much intelligence or sympathy to coun- 
terbalance, they become perfectly tyrannical and overbearing; are 
so exacting in their ideas and demands as to be almost unbearable 
to live with or get along with. Their desire is to rule and domi- 
neer over everybody and everything. Such organizations, in 
matrimonial life, are apt to end in divorce. In the religious world, 



6lO PHRENOLOGY. 

it produces the worst form of tyranny; they insist on their own 
rights and forms of worship, and are unwilling to yield the same 
privileges to others. Like the early settlers in New England, who, 
having fled from religious prejudice and persecution in Europe, 
fell into the same error themselves. Honesty depends upon the 
strength of the organic quality, the intellect, and the kind of edu- 
cation one receives. Perverted: will censure one's self for trifling 
things; and with deficient acquisitiveness and large benevolence, 
will lack self-justice and fail to collect what is due. 

FIRMNESS. — Tenacity of will, stability, steadfastness, decision, 
perseverance, resolution, fixedness of purpose, aversion to change; 
with veneration, will have a disposition to retain old things, such 
as furniture, relics, buildings, monuments, time-honored usages, 
ceremonies, institutions, and forms of government. When this 
organ is small, the individual is a creature of circumstances, his 
character lacks backbone, and if the social nature is strong or the 
propensities, there is little ability to withstand temptation, and are, 
therefore, liable to be dishonest or fall into divers sins. Perverted: 
obstinacy, stubbornness, unwillingness to change, even when reason 
requires. 

APPROBATIVENESS. — Desire to be praised, love of admiration, 
pride of character, ambition, fondness of display, desire to excel, 
sense of honor, desire and love to appear to the best advantage; 
with ideality, will love dress and fashion; with only average per- 
ceptive faculties, will drink in flattery like water. This organ 
frequently leads to exaggeration and lying. It is a rare thing to 
find a head with a small development of this organ, especially in 
civilized and fashionable parts of the world. Perverted: vanity, 
affectation, a craving for pleasing comment and praise, excess of 
fashion, ceremoniousness, outside display, eagerness for popularity; 
and with self-esteem, aristocracy and pomposity. 

SELF-ESTEEM. — Self-respect, dignity, self-appreciation, inde- 
pendence, self-reliance, self-satisfaction and complacency, self- 
elevating, lofty-mindedness, manliness, ruling instinct, desire to 
command. When this organ is large and properly exercised, it 
will prevent a man from stooping to things that are beneath his 
dignity, from committing acts that are low, mean and small; tends 
to keep him on a high moral plane, and present a dignified bearing 
to his whole conduct, morally, socially and intellectually. In busi- 




Dignified, self-willed and spirited. 




Fractious, hateful and spiteful. 




Docile and teachable. 



PHRENOLOGY. 6ll 

ness affairs he will be manly in his dealings, and not dicker and 
quibble over a few cents, as many do. Pride, in its limited and 
strongest sense, is the outgrowth of this faculty, though a good 
deal of what is commonly called pride arises from approbativeness. 
There is a difference between pride and vanity. Pride makes a 
man high-minded, and places great estimate and importance upon 
himself, his talents and acts, and expects the world to come to him 
and pay their homage or respects; whereas, vanity, which arises 
from approbativeness, pays its respects to others, and seeks in 
return their compliments, favors or attention. As far as the mere 
feeling of these two faculties are concerned, they occupy about the 
same relation as a city does to a town, or the store-keeper does to 
the customer. The one expects the other to come to him, and the 
other is willing to do it. Perversion: egotism, haughtiness, for- 
wardness, tyranny, superciliousness, imperiousness, contempt and 
selfishness. 

BENEVOLENCE. — Kindness, sympathy, pity, mercy, forgiveness; 
generosity, philanthropy, the accommodating, neighborly spirit; 
disposition to treat strangers kindly; readily become interested in 
the wants of the human family, the elevation of the race, and the 
acquisition of knowledge pertaining to human life and character 
on a broad and unlimited scale. It is, therefore, opposed to the 
spirit of selfishness and narrow-mindedness. A man may possess 
this faculty large without being liberal in money matters. His 
liberality may consist in mere sympathy, and allowing or ex- 
pecting other people to be liberal. Perverted: places too much 
confidence in human nature, unwisely sympathetic; with small 
conscientiousness, liable to give away what belongs to others. 
When this organ is too large, and firmness and conscientiousness 
only average, it runs into extreme liberality of sentiment and 
ideas on moral and social subjects, and with a weak, nervous 
system renders a person liable to insanity, especially when imi- 
tation is large, because they sympathize too strongly, take on too 
much the character and conditions of whoever or whatsoever 
surrounds them. Let their minds brood over troubles, and dwell 
too much and long over the sufferings and misfortunes of life. 

IDEALITY. — Imagination; love of the beautiful wherever it 
exists, refinement, purity, cleanliness, taste, elegance, sense of 
propriety, imagination, the poetic and artistic faculty. Pervef- 



6l2 PHRENOLOGY. 

sion: too much of the ideal, and not enough of real, practical life; 
are visionary, extra nice and fastidious. This faculty has an im- 
portant influence on the character; it refines and elevates mentally 
and physically. In some heads this organ is largely associated 
with constructiveness, and gives a taste for pictures and things 
that are pretty and ornamental. In other heads it seems more 
closely allied to imitation, and works in connection with that 
faculty, producing a creative, half-inventive and perfecting talent. 
It enables one to do or produce a thing— say in art — without having 
a copy to go by. Such persons are good in discovering new truths, 
facts and principles in literature, science, philosophy and art. This 
kind of imagination not only has the power to picture familiar 
scenes or ideas in a new light, but to originate thoughts, plans 
and scenes entirely new. Through this combination of organs 
Milton wrote his Paradise Lost, and with the addition of human 
nature Bunyan wrote the Pilgrim's Progress. 

Sublimity. — Splendor, love of things that are majestic and 
romantic; perception and appreciation of the vast, illimitable, 
endless, omnipotent, and infinite; enjoy mountain scenery, cata- 
racts, conflagrations, sea-storms, thunder, lightning, roar of cannon, 
conflict of armies, and everything that is wild, terrific and awful; 
in writing or speaking, liable to use high-sounding words and 
metaphorical expressions. This is the faculty that appreciates 
and loves the majestic grandeur of nature, such as mountain 
scenery, the Falls of Niagara, Mammoth Cave, the ocean's restless 
waves, and whatsoever is rugged, wild, imposing, vast and yet 
beautiful, in nature's wonderful panorama. 

IMITATION. — Assimilation, copying, patterning, mimicking; 
ability to assume and act the character of another; with only 
average causality, will adopt the ideas, sentiments, plans, style and 
dress of others; conformity to the manners and habits of others. 
It tends to produce unity of action in the human family. Enables a 
man to adapt himself to the company or society in which he may 
be placed, and adapt himself to conditions and circumstances 
surrounding him. It is the giving up of self and emerging into 
another in regard to habits and character. Good speakers, actors 
and elocutionists require this faculty. When imitation is deficient, 
however, the individual is too much wrapped up in his ow.i ideas, 
has no desire to become like unto another person or character, 



PHRENOLOGY. 613 

and for this reason is liable to drift into skepticism and infidelity. 
Perverted: will adopt bad habits, and follow the evil example of 
others; with perverted approbativeness, liable to assume other 
persons' names and characters, claim relationship, or personate 
those who are superior in rank, wealth and ability. Children hav- 
ing this faculty large, will do what their parents do, whether it be 
good or bad. 

Human Nature. — Intuitive perception of character and mo- 
tives, the ability to read from the countenance the disposition and 
moral state at first sight; discernment of motives; with good 
perceptive faculties and secretiveness, make good detectives and 
policemen; with good intellect, will not be very easily imposed 
upon. This faculty imparts foreknowledge, and enables persons 
having it large to arrive at some forms of knowledge instantane- 
ously and without reasoning, especially that kind of knowledge 
which pertains to human life and character. Perverted: it pro- 
duces suspicion, lack of confidence, personal prejudice; with 
perception and mirthfulness, offensive criticism of character; with 
agreeableness, approbativeness and secretiveness, are liable to be 
confidence-men, full of flattery; will palaver and oil their victims, 
like serpents, just before they swallow them. 

Agreeableness. — Affability, pleasantness, blandness, persua- 
siveness, ability to please and win others, fascinating in manners 
and conversation; imparts ease, grace and elegance in manner and 
conversation, and the disposition to smile and bow courteously to 
strangers as well as friends; with amativeness and adhesiveness, 
will be very polite and accommodating to persons of the opposite 
sex, and gain many friends among them; tendency to speak and 
act in a mellow, persuasive manner; can say disagreeable things 
pleasantly. Perverted: blarney and flattery. 

ADHESIVENESS.- — Friendship, sociability, companionship, desire 
to form acquaintances, love of society, warm-hearted, affectionate, 
and devoted to the interest of friends; with benevolence, will 
manifest hospitality, and readily aid others. Persons with this 
organ large, particularly women and young people, are apt to 
place great confidence in those they love. Much harm results 
sometimes from misplaced confidence. Friendship, like love, is 
blind, and therefore incapable of making choice as to who is 
worthy of confidence; hence, people should use their human 



6 14 PHRENOLOGY. 

nature and intellect in determining who to love, trust and confide 
in. Perverted: undue fondness for friends and company, apt to 
idolize, cannot or will not see their faults and imperfections; with 
large faith, apt to become surety for others. 

CAUTIOUSNESS. — Prudence, carefulness, watchfulness, provision 
against want and danger, security, apprehension, protection, solici- 
tude. With firmness large and self-esteem small, this organ will 
tend to keep a person back in life, because he will be irresolute, 
afraid to venture upon untried ground to try a new thing, or step 
out of the ordinary course or path of life; hence, his timidity, fear 
and procrastination will prevent him from embarking upon a new 
enterprise; with the nervous temperament, apt to borrow trouble; 
easily worried about small matters, over-anxiety and fear about 
accidents; with perverted human nature and small hope, will get 
into a state of mind that produces fright and panic. This will 
readily explain how financial panics are caused. 

CONTINUITY. — Consecutiveness, and connectedness of thought 
and feeling; one thing at a time; patience, prolixity; not fickle- 
minded; the ability to concentrate the mind or will upon anything 
until completed. When deficient, the individual is impatient, 
always in a hurry, only half-does things, and generally has too 
many irons in the fire. Mechanics who are deficient in this organ, 
are apt to slight their work because always in a hurry to get 
through and begin another job. Its deficiency, therefore, is the 
cause of a lack of thoroughness and completeness in all the affairs 
of life, whether of an intellectual, moral, social or business nature; 
people jump too quick from one thing or idea to another. This 
organ is generally deficient, and its manifestation can be seen in 
public as well as private life. Perverted: are tedious, wearisome, 
dwell too long on one thing, monotonous, sameness; if a public 
speaker, will exhaust the patience of his hearers by long discourses. 

INHABITIVENESS. — The home feeling, attachment to a place or 
house where one was born or has lived; desire to locate instead of 
travel; love of country. It is this organ that inclines men to buy 
land, build houses, and settle down in life. Cities and towns are 
built up partly through this faculty. When locality and individu- 
ality are also large, the individual may love to travel occasionally, 
but also have a place he can call home. This organ is large in 
cats; hence, the difficulty in getting one to stay in a new place. 



PHRENOLOGY. 615 

Homesickness undoubtedly arises from the disturbance of this 
organ. Perverted: prejudice against other places and countries. 

CONSTRUCTIVENESS. — The ability and desire to use tools, make 
and construct things, the mechanical and manufacturing talent, 
ability to construct sentences; with causality and human nature, 
will be inventive; with imitation or the perceptives, can work after 
a pattern. Perverted, will waste time and money in making use- 
less articles. There is a difference between constructive and 
inventive ability. A man may be able to construct a thing he 
never could invent, and he may invent a thing without being able 
to construct or put it together. In my professional experience I 
have met with such individuals. There is a kind of intellectual 
ingenuity which many persons possess that enables them to see 
into and understand mechanical operations, and the principles of 
mechanical movements; which enables them to engineer, superin- 
tend or operate machinery, or, perhaps, make improvements on 
some instrument or machine, or invent a new thing. I remember 
examining such a man, and so described him as mechanically 
ingenious but not constructive, when he acknowledged he had 
invented a machine, but found great difficulty in putting it to- 
gether. The organs of human nature, causality and comparison 
are chiefly the inventive or ingenious organs, especially if the 
nose is long and slightly drooping at the point. But it requires a 
large development of the organ of constructiveness, in addition to 
those just mentioned, to make a thoroughly mechanical inventor, 
builder and engineer. A man may be a civil engineer without 
much constructive ability, but to be a mechanical engineer, he 
must have the talent to construct, combined with a good intellect, 
causality, and the perceptives particularly. Surgeons require large 
constructiveness, otherwise they fail to dissect with dexterity. 
The organ of locality should also be large. When this organ is 
large in women, they take a delight in house-work, in making . 
and doing things with their own hands. It would be a good thing 
for the stomachs and health of people, and morals of the country, 
if women generally, especially those in the Southern States, would 
cultivate their constructiveness a little more and their vanity less. 

AMATIVENESS. — Love for the opposite sex, sexuality, desire to 
marry; it creates in each sex admiration and love for the other, 
renders women charming, winning, persuasive, urbane and affec- 



6l6 PHRENOLOGY. 

tionate; and makes man tender-hearted, noble, gallant, elevated 
in aspiration, and highly susceptible to female charms. This organ 
and propensity is the motive power of the whole world. It puts 
impulse into a man's character, and urges or propels him along the 
pathway of life. Great men and women are generally possessed 
of a large development of amativeness, and the individual who is 
deficient in it is not worth much to the world nor himself either. 
Perverted, it becomes a mere animal feeling, and changes love into 
passion, occasions grossness, vulgarity, licentiousness, and a fever- 
ish state of mind; changeable in their treatment of the opposite 
sex, sometimes caressing and sometimes abusing. Profanity is 
occasioned through the perverted and licentious use of this organ, 
and two thirds of the murders are caused through the interruption 
and excitement of this organ. Destructiveness may give the 
blow, fire the shot, or execute the horrible deed, but amativeness 
generally stirs up the feelings and gives the impulse. 

CONJUGALITY. — Love for one, union for life, first love, attach- 
ment to one congenial partner, duality and exclusiveness of love; 
desire to caress and kiss, the disposition to concentrate the whole 
heart upon one person, with the desire that they, in return, will do 
likewise. Persons with this organ very large, and only a moderate 
development of amativeness, seldom marry the second time, but 
with a reverse development of the two organs, may marry several 
times. Large conjugality is also the cause of some married people 
being so uneasy when separated from each other even for a few 
days; there is a longing desire to return and be in each other's 
society. Persons who have this faculty large, with ideality and the 
organic quality, will find very few congenial companions; should 
be careful not to misplace their affections. Perverted: idolatrous 
love, too much devotion and worship, jealousy, envy toward love 
rivals; if disappointed, a broken heart and ruin for life. 

PARENTAL LOVE. — Attachment to one's own offspring, love of 
children generally, fondness for pet animals, desire for the society 
of children, makes parents, teachers, and nurses tender-hearted 
and patient in their treatment of children and young people; with 
mirthfulness and adhesiveness, will play much with children, amuse 
them, be a friend to them, make friends of them, and win their 
affections; with benevolence and constructiveness, will not only 
give but make many play-things for them; with combativeness, 




A GABBLER. 

Note the large mouth and full eyes. Fuller and more flexible lips with higher de- 
velopment of intellect are required in oratory. 




ABDOMINAL FORM. 



This form is sometimes associated with the lymphatic temperament, but not always. 
With a round, plump face, persons are generally good natured, social and companionable. 
With a low nature and large bibativeness, are very apt to turn themselves into human 
Deer-barrels and unprincipled politicians. 



PHRENOLOGY. 617 

will readily take the part of children; and with destructiveness 
added, will defend their lives in times of danger at the risk of 
their own. Perverted: excessively indulge, idolize and spoil them; 
with approbativeness and self-esteem, are full of parental vanity 
and conceit, think their own children much smarter than, and 
superior to, other people's. 

COMBATIVENES3. — Resistance, defense, opposition, attack, de- 
fiance, boldness, courage, bravery, self-protection, presence of 
mind in times of danger, the ability and desire to encounter and 
overcome obstacles, disposition to be aggressive; with adhesive- 
ness, will defend the interest or character of friends; with con- 
scientiousness, will vigorously prosecute the right and oppose the 
wrong. This organ does not seek to destroy or annihilate, but 
simply to conquer; it seeks to overcome and overthrow whatever 
may be in the way of self-interest or enjoyment. In business 
affairs it imparts energy and push, and strives to surmount all 
obstacles in the way of success, and to eventually surpass others 
in the same line of business, especially when ambition is large 
also. Perverted: contentious, contrary, ill-natured, fault-finding 
and fighting disposition; with disordered nerves, are peevish, 
fretful, irritable and dissatisfied; with destructiveness large and 
deficient moral faculties, will be hateful, bitter, quarrelsome, and 
desperate when provoked. 

Destructiveness. — Executiveness, force of character, severity, 
extermination, the go-through, break, crush, tear-down spirit; 
ability to endure pain, and, with constructiveness, perform surgical 
and dental operations. This is a good propensity when used in 
connection with the moral and intellectual faculties, but when they 
are deficient, it is one of the worst in man's mental organism; it 
imparts a scolding and bull-dozing disposition, and tends to make 
persons severe in their treatment of those who displease them. 
School-masters and parents who have this organ large are apt to 
thrash or punish the disobedient children severely, and frequently 
abuse them; it gives place to wrath, vengeance, malice, and a 
disposition to kill and destroy whatever is offensive; with appro- 
bativeness and self-esteem, will seek to avenge a personal wrong 
by fighting a duel; but with large secretiveness and combativenes, 
will be liable to commit a premeditated and mysterious murder. 
If combativeness, excitability and the passional temperament 



6l8 PHRENOLOGY. 

accompany excessive destructiveness, its possessor may dispose 
of his victim about as quickly as he knows how. Men of this 
stamp should never use stimulants of any kind. 

SECRETIVENESS. — The disposition to do things quietly and 
secretly, to conceal the truth; policy, management, discretion, 
reserve, evasion, cunning, ability to restrain feeling, concealment, 
tactical, shrewd, careful in the expression of words and actions; 
with large cautiousness, are hard to be found out; with large con- 
scientiousness, will be honest in purpose, yet resort to many little 
devices, are equivocal, may not tell a direct lie, nor speak the 
plain truth, but evade pointed questions; with large approbative- 
ness, are liable to sail under false colors; if in business, will take 
care not to show any defects in goods. Perverted: lying, deceptive, 
sly, crafty, double-dealing, insincere, hypocritical propensity; it is 
inclined to doubt the motives or sincerity of others, even personal 
friends, especially when human nature is large; hence, suspicion 
may often arise from this organ; with perverted amativeness and 
deficient conscientiousness, will pretend to make love, and resort 
to all sorts of intrigues to win the affections of the opposite sex 
and accomplish their purpose. 

ACQUISITIVENESS. — Accumulation of money or property, love 
of business, frugality, economy, desire to own, love of trading and 
speculation, inclination to save and lay by for future need. When 
hope is large, and cautiousness only average, the individual will be 
enterprising and do business on a large scale. When large ac- 
quisitiveness is combined with a whole-souled, generous nature, 
there will be a stronger disposition to make money than to save it. 
A good many people work hard to earn money or get it in some 
way, but are careless in the spending of it. Perverted: avaricious, 
miserly, grasping; with large secretiveness and average conscien- 
tiousness, will make money anyhow, over-praise and sell poor 
articles for good ones; with small self-esteem, are mean in dealing, 
sticklers for the half-cent; with large hope, and not much cau- 
tiousness, embark too deep in business and speculation, run great 
risks, and are liable to fail; with large secretiveness added, will 
buy more than can be paid for, and pay in promises rather than 
money. 

MlRTHFULNESS. — Wit, fun, perception of the absurd and ridic- 
ulous, disposition to joke and be merry, always laughing and 



PHRENOLOGY. 619 

making others laugh; with imitation, are naturally comical; with 
human nature and comparison added, will make fun by acting and 
showing off the absurdities of others; with amativeness and even- 
tuality, take great delight in joking and relating stories about the 
other sex; with adhesiveness, language, imitation and agreeable- 
ness, will be excellent company, especially at a party. When 
combined with good intellect, this faculty may delight in experi- 
ments; trying new ways and new things, and may be a valuable 
help in chemistry and scientific researches, but as generally 
manifested in society, it takes the form of wit, and a keen relish 
for fun, and the ridiculous side of life. Perverted, it becomes 
disagreeable, making fun without occasion at any time or place; 
with large combativeness and destructiveness, are sarcastic, always 
teasing and tantalizing, making enemies instead of friends; if 
benevolence is deficient, will torment dumb animals, insects, etc. 
In common intellects and low natures it takes the form of coarse 
jokes and general nonsense, making fun out of sacred things and 
on sacred occasions. 

CAUSALITY. — Reasoning power, induction, investigation, origi- 
nality, comprehension, ability to trace cause from effect, must 
know the why and the wherefore of everything; the planning, 
contriving, inventing and scheming faculty; love of abstract 
thought, ability to synthetize; with large combativeness, love to 
argue; with large perceptives, are quick to perceive facts, condi- 
tions and qualities; with comparison and human nature, are fond 
of mental philosophy; with conscientiousness, veneration and 
benevolence added, will excel in moral philosophy. When the 
mental temperament predominates, and the perceptives, especially 
individuality, are large, in addition to the reflectives, there will be 
scientific and philosophical talent combined; but if the percep- 
tives are quite large, and the reflectives only full or medium in 
size, there will be more scientific than philosophical ability. 
When the reflectives, especially causality, is largely in excess 
of the perceptives, there will be a tendency to abstract thought, 
and the mind will be in danger of getting into a metaphysical 
fog, as did some of the old mental philosophers. No man can 
be a correct reasoner without sufficient observation to supply 
facts as food for the reflectives to digest. This organ is also 
essential in the higher branches of mathematics, and combined 



620 PHRENOLOGY. 

with calculation, the perceptives and constructiveness, or widening 
of the head in that region, makes the natural mathematician. 

COMPARISON. — Reasoning from analogy, deduction, ability to 
analyze, classify, compare and draw inferences, disposition to criti- 
cise, illustrate, observe similarities and dissimilarities at a glance; 
with ideality large, will use pleasing, figurative illustrations in 
speaking or writing; with a well-developed intellect, are full of 
general and practical information, can speak in allegories and 
parables; with large language, can explain things well, and inter- 
est a public audience. This faculty is specially used "in law 
business; it enables lawyers to cross-examine, compare evidence, 
and sift the true from the false. It imparts a quick, discriminating 
judgment to business men; and, with large perceptives, gives great 
practical judgment. It enables persons, with the aid of memory, 
to compare the past with the present, and draw lessons of useful- 
ness in business, science, morals and social life. It gives a man 
the ability to make a comparative use of all the knowledge he 
possesses in order to illustrate his ideas or subject, and is a very 
essential organ in debating. Perverted: notice the inconsistency 
and lack of harmony between persons and things too much. 

EVENTUALITY. — Memory of names and facts, recollection of 
general news, occurrences and passing events, retention of knowl- 
edge, ideas and things once known or seen, love of history and 
reading; and, with human nature large, biography; with language 
and imitation, love to hear and relate stories; with spirituality and 
ideality, will* be fond of fiction, thirst for knowledge, learn things 
easy, and are capable of becoming good literary scholars. This 
faculty is the mind's storehouse, in which is garnered whatsoever 
is gathered by the other intellectual faculties, particularly the 
perceptives. It also takes cognizance of actions and passing 
events. I am not satisfied yet, however, as to its being the 
special organ to remember names, but in at least nineteen cases 
out of twenty I find, where this organ is deficient, there is a poor 
memory of names. I am inclined to believe that large language 
has much to do with the memory of names and special words. 
Perversion: excessive reading, and crowding of the memory with 
things that are of no practical use. 

LOCALITY. — Recollection of places, roads and scenery; ability 
to find places and things, desire to travel, perspective knowledge, 





Water or swimming birds have webbed 
feet and comparatively short legs. The 
duck is especially a water bird. The 
beaks of birds also indicate their habits 
and whether adapted to live in trees, on 
land or water. 



Land or running birds generally have 
long legs. The stork, heron, crane, and 
other birds, are waders, but cannot swim. 




Aerial or perching birds have long talons for holding on to branches. Thus the build 
and form of birds and animals indicate their characters, habits and where they belong 
in nature. 





Faithful, affectionate and good-natured. 



The kind of dog a stranger should ap- 
proach carefully. 



PHRENOLOGY. 621 

intuitive perception of the whereabouts of a place, know where to 
find an idea or statement in a book, ability to find one's way, 
either in the city or woods; the faculty used in the study of 
geography, astronomy and geometry. This organ is very neces- 
sary to guides, pilots and travelers. Persons with it large remem- 
ber a place, on coming to it the second time, they have not seen 
for years before. It is essential to the business man that he may 
know or judge of the best place to do business. I find it invariably 
large in traveling men. If any man wishes to make a personal 
and practical test of phrenology, let him carefully examine his 
forehead immediately over the eyes and nose, or, better still, take 
. an impression of it, then start out and travel a few years, hunt up 
all the places of interest in the country, and take particular notice 
of what he sees, and then examine himself again, and he will see 
Contrast enough to convince a skeptic. 

INDIVIDUALITY. — Observation, desire to know all about things, 
cognizance of individual objects, and perception of the qualities 
and conditions relative to them; desire to see and examine; curi- 
osity; can judge of the value of a thing by its appearance; it 
recognizes objects and persons as distinct from each other, and, 
with form, of separate classes, such as a man, a horse, cow, tree or 
house. This faculty is used in selecting and buying grain, fruit, 
vegetables, dry goods, jewelry, and every kind of merchandise; it 
is the faculty or window through which the mind recognizes the 
distinctive character of external and material objects, mentally 
separates mixed and general thoughts into definite and distinct 
ideas. It is the medium through which most kinds of knowledge 
enter the mind; it is the organ through which magnetic impres- 
sions are produced upon the mind. With causality, will learn more 
by observation and experience than in any other way. Persons 
deficient in this organ are slow to observe; they go through the 
world with their eyes shut; they see everything in general, but 
nothing in particular. Those having it large are a sort of general 
encyclopedia; their curiosity and thirst for knowledge cause them 
to be pretty well informed on general subjects, at least such sub- 
jects as come within their range of observation or investigation. 
Detectives require this organ. Perverted: it causes persons to 
stare and pry into things that do not concern them; if in a public 
meeting, will turn the head to see who comes in; with human 



622 PHRENOLOGY. 

nature, approbativeness and form, will notice their personal ap- 
pearance, dress, etc.; and with comparison added, will compare 
their looks and dress with others. 

LANGUAGE. — The expression of ideas by words, ability to speak 
and write fluently, communication of ideas by looks and signs as 
well as words; with comparison added, will use just the words 
required to convey the meaning; with imitation, will be full of 
gestures in speaking; if secretiveness is small and the perceptives 
good, can speak without much preparation; but if secretiveness 
and cautiousness are large, often hesitate, will not be pointed, nor 
speak to the purpose. Perverted, verbosity and excessive talka- 
tiveness; with large approbativeness, will render one's-self annoy- 
ing in company, by trying to do all the talking; and much of the 
desire to talk arises from approbativeness, because persons with it 
large are so anxious to express their ideas and receive their share 
of attention; hence, very large language, approbativeness and a 
good sized mouth, with small secretiveness, will make an inveterate 
talker; about twenty minutes of their company is enough to last 
one a whole day. 

FORM. — Memory of faces, recollection of shape and things seen, 
perception of resemblance, ability to judge of configuration; with 
large ideality and amativeness, will be delighted with beautiful 
forms, statuary, etc.; with large acquisitiveness, individuality and 
locality, readily detect counterfeits; with adhesiveness, will be 
inclined to form partnerships and join societies. This faculty is 
very essential in drawing; it enables a person to sketch a correct 
outline. Persons deficient in it are apt to pass their acquaintances 
on the street without knowing them. Seeing images floating in 
the air I attribute to a large development of this faculty. Some 
persons on pressing the eyelids close together will see forms and 
colors dancing before the mind indescribably beautiful. I attribute 
that phenomenon to form and probably color, though I cannot say 
positively. 

SIZE. — Ability to judge of the size or length of anything by the 
eye; cognizance of bulk, magnitude, quantity, proportion; readily 
detect any disproportion in architecture; with constructiveness, 
will have a good eye for mechanical work. This faculty is very 
essential in perspective drawing. Some have a good and quick eye 
to tell whether a picture or any other object hangs or stands per- 



PHRENOLOGY. 623 

pendicular or not; they can plumb a post or building by the eye 
almost as correctly as a carpenter can with his instrument. I con- 
sider the faculty of size as imparting that talent. 

WEIGHT. — Perception of the laws of gravity, motion, mechan- 
ical force; possess great skill in balancing, climbing, skating, swim- 
ming, hurling, shooting and riding; with constructiveness, can 
operate machinery well; it is the engineering faculty, as it has 
perception of force and resistance. Good marksmen, billiardists, 
and pianists or organists, have it large. Coachmen, photographers 
and artists require this faculty also; the two latter use it in giving 
pose and balance to their subjects. When perverted, runs too much 
risk, by venturing too far; with acquisitiveness and approbative- 
ness, will hazard one's life by performing great public feats, such 
as walking across Niagara on a rope, circus riding, performing on 
a trapeze, etc. 

COLOR. — Discernment, recollection, application and love of 
colors; with ideality and human nature, will be fond of fine portrait 
paintings. When this organ is large in persons, they not only have 
the ability to perceive the difference, but delight in fine, soft tints 
and shades. It also gives talent to perceive harmony and agree- 
able contrasts of the most delicate tints and hues. Portrait paint- 
ers require this faculty, and they alone develop it to a high state of 
perfection. Ladies use it more than men in general, on account of 
colors, in their dresses and toilets. When deficient in a person, 
he is either color-blind or can only distinguish colors of strong- 
contrasts. There is probably four or five per cent, of people who 
are almost or quite color-blind. Railroad and steamboat companies 
should be careful in selecting help for positions where they have to 
watch the signals; otherwise terrible accidents may occur. Per- 
verted: over-nice in arranging and matching colors in dress, etc. 

ORDER. — Method, arrangement; and with causality, system; 
the desire and ability to put things, words, ideas and persons in 
their proper place readily; observe confusion, and cannot endure 
it; with locality, must have a particular place for everything; with 
large time, must have things at the right time and season; with 
calculation, acquisitiveness and causality added, have good business 
talents. Makes persons neat and orderly in their way of doing and 
handling things; and if ideality is large, they will be remarkably 
tasty and tidy in personal appearance; but when deficient, they 



624 PHRENOLOGY. 

will displace and leave disarranged everything- they touch. I have 
been terribly annoyed at Expositions, to see how many people 
would pick up books, pictures or frames to look at them, then 
throw them down any way but in the order they found them; while 
occasionally a person will come along and replace them with 
precision and taste. Generals, presidents of societies, and leaders 
of any kind of organization, require this faculty; it is also indis- 
pensable to book-keepers. 

Calculation. — Perception of numbers, ability to reckon figures 
in the head, mental arithmetic, computation; with causality and 
comparison, will excel in the higher branches of mathematics; with 
large causality, perceptives and deficient spirituality, believe only 
what can be seen, tested and proven beyond a doubt. This faculty 
alone does not give talent for the higher branches of mathematics; 
it simply relates to arithmetic and algebra, or adding, subtracting, 
multiplying and dividing. Geometry is dependent upon the per- 
ceptives and reason. There are few callings where calculation is 
not necessary. It should be well developed in book-keepers, bus- 
iness men, civil engineers and astronomers. 

TIME. — Cognizance of duration and succession,, recollection of 
seasons and the time when things occurred, memory of dates, ability 
to keep time in music and dancing; also, to tell or keep the time 
of day in the mind, and to awake at a given or desired time in the 
morning; with conscientiousness, will be particular to keep prom- 
ises and fulfill engagements at the time appointed. 

TUNE. — The music faculty, ability to learn and remember tunes 
by rote, harmony of sound, melody, modulation of the voice; with 
large time, weight and a lively nature, will enjoy lively music and 
dancing very much; with constructiveness, imitation and causality, 
can be a good performer, and make most kinds of instruments; 
with large veneration and the organic quality, will enjoy sacred 
music. To the phrenologist, tune and time are rather uncertain 
organs, their location not being thoroughly established. For my 
own part, I read musical talent more by physiognomy, the tem- 
perament and ear. Blondes are generally fond of lively music and 
dancing; and a sanguine temperament, with a fine, sensitive organ- 
ization, is generally musical, especially when the ear is rounded at 
the top, finely formed and sets well out from the head. 




THE UNMUSICAL EAR. 

Observe the angular and sharp-pointed form of the top of this ear. It is built on the 
same principle as the long, sharp-pointed ear of the ass and the mule, which animals are 
not noted for their appreciation of music. 





The Ear of a Prima Donna. 



MUSICAL EARS. 



The rounded, well-formed ear, that sets forward and outward instead of being flat on 
the head, is a pretty good sign of musical taste, if not of talent. The voice, however, 
depends upon the structure of the vocal organs and the knowledge of using them. 



PHRENOLOGY. 625 

ViTATIVENESS. — Tenacity of life, desire to live, resistance and 
dread of death; the propensity to ward of disease and sickness, 
and prevent suffering and injury to the body. It is a very necessary 
organ in the protection of one's limbs and life. With large animal 
propensities, will love life for the sake of worldly enjoyment; with 
large moral and religious organs, desire to exist for the sake of 
doing good; with an excess of conscientiousness, cautiousness, 
spirituality, a deficiency of hope, and an uncultivated intellect, will 
have an indescribable dread of entering upon a future state of 
existence; and with combativeness and firmness added, will resist 
death as long as strength permits. 

ALIMENTIVENESS. — Appetite, hunger, relish for food; with 
large benevolence, will set a splendid table; with adhesiveness, 
will invite friends to dinner or tea; with approbativeness and 
ideality added, will make great display at the table, love to attend 
festivals and any social gatherings where dinners or suppers are 
served; with fair causality, constructiveness and perceptives, will 
make a good cook. The strength of the appetite will depend 
largely on the state of the body and general health. If the 
stomach is out of order, it may produce an abnormal appetite, 
whereas other kinds of sickness may take it away entirely. If 
the organ is small, there will be little appetite at any time, 
whether sick or well. Perverted: gluttony, apt to overload the 
stomach and bring on dyspepsia. 

BlBATlVENESS. — Love of water, desire to drink, fondness for 
liquids; the washing, bathing, swimming and sailing faculty; with 
large weight, will be a good swimmer; with individuality and 
locality added, a natural seaman; with ideality, will admire water 
prospects. When this propensity is large in a man, he can drink 
two, three or four tumblers of water easily, but if small, he will 
find it difficult sometimes to drink one full glass; he will also 
have a dislike or fear of water in large bodies, such as lakes and 
oceans, and even rivers, particularly if cautiousness is large. Like 
an old lady I heard of, whom it was difficult to persuade to cross 
Lake George, in New York State, only a mile or two wide, and 
when she did consent, she had her will made before crossing. Its 
deficiency is also likely to cause persons to neglect bathing, and 
may be the chief reason why some children dislike to be washed. 
As a preventive of small-pox, scarlet fever and similar scourges, 



626 PHRENOLOGY. 

I should advocate compulsory bathing rather than vaccination, and 
boards of health and city councils could not do a better thing than 
open up public and cheap or free bathing places. That would be 
far more sensible than arresting she small boy for bathing inside 
the city limits — though I do not say that bathing will prevent 
small-pox if the individual is careless in other habits. When the 
organ of bibativeness is very large and the nervous temperament 
predominant, there is a very strong tendency to drunkenness. 

Practicality. — Ability to gather knowledge, and apply it to 
some useful end; the matter-of-fact talent; can read character 
well by physiognomy; quick to observe and take a hint, compre- 
hend ideas, and perceive the quality of things at a glance, will 
condense and find the shortest way of saying and doing things, 
will put into practice every theory one advocates; with human 
nature and organic quality, can read the motives of people. 
School-teachers having this talent can apparently teach more 
than they know, while those who are deficient, fail to impart the 
knowledge they possess. 

SUBTERFUGE. — -Ability to shift and evade difficulties, questions 
and failures ; never fear emergencies, are prolific in ways and 
means to accomplish certain ends or purposes; are liable to 
make mischief, apt to be ironical and sarcastic ; have much 
self-assurance, and are inclined to boast, especially if approbative- 
ness is large. 

RESISTANCE. — Disposition to fight against and overcome diffi- 
culties, can face opposition of any kind; ability to go up the 
stream rather than down, and stem the tide of opposition and 
adversity; inclined to be revengeful, and feel like acting out the 
motto, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;" with a 
nervous temperament, are easily provoked over little things; and 
with only average mirthfulness and agreeableness, generally cross. 
Such persons do not like to have others press things upon their 
attention or force their presence; it only makes them frown, look 
sour, and repel the attentions or pressure. When large, it gives a 
harsh, repulsive expression to the eyes, and tends to keep others 
at arm's length. 

BUSINESS CAPACITY. — The ability to do, manage and carry on 
business, and make it pay; a natural tact for financial transactions; 
discernment of business principles and a desire to execute them; 



PHRENOLOGY. 627 

perception of the fitness and adaptation of certain things to cer- 
tain ends; the desire and talent for money-making or the accumu- 
lation of property: worldly enthusiasm, with a determination to 
possess, if possible, what the propensities like most, be it property 
or stock. Perverted: selfishness. 

RELIGIOUS NATURE. — That condition of heart and mind which 
inclines a person to a religious life; obedience to Divine authority; 
a disposition to readily accept the truths of the gospel, and the 
teachings of the Bible in general; a willingness to be converted, 
and early yield to the influences of the Holy Spirit; a submissive, 
docile, believing, confiding spirit — that which brings man into 
relat'onship and communion with his Maker. It imparts an honest 
nature, and is similar to the organic quality. It does not follow, 
however, that because a person has this nature large they are 
church members, but they are more likely to be Christians than 
those who are deficient in it. 



[Whole number of pages, 728.] 



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